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.

Tons of salad with mashed potato and mac and cheese. With homemade strawberry shortcake for dessert.

I ate about half. Plus a candy cane.

That cane was actually my hook in a candy cane fishing game we played. We went through a series of challenges from Minute to Win It. Hilarious.

Adam and I won! Woot!

We took a long walk to get home and stopped for sushi on the way back.

I had two pieces of inarai (tofu skin) but some amazing fried thing. It was the perfect way to end a great holiday.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

P.S. Here’s a video of Webster opening his Christmas present. You’re welcome.

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?

21Dec2012

It’s Begining To Look A Lot Like Christmas

by Emily

We are four days away and it is starting to snow! We might have a white Christmas after all. Also, the world didn’t end today; yay.

Sorry I missed a post last night (after going on and on about how I was “back,” natch) but I was still running errands as the clock neared midnight. Two crazy days in a row are over and I’m ready to recap.

Thursday’s brunch included two of my best savory recipes.

A Nacho Turkey Burger topped with some Citrus Guacamole.

We even toasted our buns (in a hot skillet with a bit of Smart Balance Light) so the meal felt extra fancy.

I also had a deeelicious drink; 1 cup each Chameleon Cold Brew coffee and eggnog.

I know it’s cold out for iced coffee but I couldn’t resist the chance to pair my favorite coffee with my favorite winter flavor.

I worked 9+ hours and was sooooooo hungry when I got off. I would have loved to go straight home for dinner but we had errands to run so I ended up getting Moe’s instead.

But who would complain about Moe’s?

I got a naked burrito (aka a cheaper rice bowl) with rice, black beans, sautéed onions, green peppers, and mushrooms, lettuce, corn salsa, cilantro, guacamole, and sour cream.

Plus chips with queso.

I ate all of the queso, 2/3 of the chips, and 3/4 of the bowl.

When we finally made it home (more than 12 hours after I left!) there were presents from both sets of parents.

My mom sent us homemade toffee.

It was the perfect bedtime snack.

Friday I started with a salad. Romaine topped with 1.5 chopped turkey burgers, shredded cheese, a dollop of guacamole, buckwheat groats, and honey mustard dressing (I accidentally used way too much dressing and it was kind of gross, boo).

Also half a honeycrisp with 1 Tbsp each peanut butter and Biscoff spread, melted.

And I drank a Guava Rockstar Punched at work.

<– yum

I have the best bosses on earth and they surprised us with pizza for dinner mid-shift! It was too exciting. I had a a veggie slice and a buffalo chicken slice.

Mr. Pizza has the best crust in Buffalo.

And I won this candy bar.

When I got home I made myself eat fruits and veggies first though. A handful of baby carrots.

An ambrosia apple.

And finally my tasty snack.

1 serving of Green and Black’s Toffee Milk Chocolate Bar,

and a cup of eggnog mixed with Silk Soy Nog.

Topped with a sprinkle of nutmeg.

Finally, some general updates –

My hair – I’m still leaving the tub purple after every shower and my new hair is a bit lighter than the original photo I showed you guys. I will have to have Adam snap a picture the next time I’m home during good light.
Christmas – we are not going to visit any family, boo. But Adam and I are going to have our first ever Christmas with just the two of us; it’s time that our little family started to develop some of our own traditions!

If you celebrate, where are you spending Christmas this year? Do you and your significant other have any of your own holiday traditions?

17Nov2012

Happy Happy Joy Joy

by Emily

Thursday was more crappy than happy. The list of low-lights includes being so freaking tired all day because I still haven’t caught up on sleep, eating pizza for dinner (so stress eating, so not vegan), having my stitches be difficult to remove because the office was asstastic about making a follow-up appointment, and having to work on a group project until bedtime.

If you weren’t paying close attention to that list of complaints, you may have missed yesterday’s highlight: I got my stitches removed!

My hand is officially free. And gross. But Adam bought me a bubble tea for being brave.

I got a strawberry bubble tea at Gin Gin and they gave me normal boba with multiple flavors of popping boba as well. Best bubble tea I’ve had in years!

Friday was the happy, happy, joy, joy day. I just woke up happy. Several good things did happen today, but I swear that I was excited to begin with.

The fact that I was dressed in a very “Emily” outfit did put me in a good frame of mind.

And all of my meals were incredibly tasty. Breakfast was a tasting plates of sorts in class. A serving of Angie’s Sweet and Salty kettle corn.

An apple.

And a roasted seaweed snack.

I washed down my snacks with a can of Cherry Coke Zero that was randomly the best soda I’ve ever had. I’m not sure exactly how it was different than usual but I swear the formula must have been “off” for this can’s batch because it was amazing.

A tall soy creme brulee coffee was consumed for warmth and caffeine on my walk home.

I only had time to switch out my bags between school and work which could have put a damper on my mood (especially because I didn’t have time to eat!) but then I came home to this –

A #simplesurvivalkit packed with goodies from some of my favorite brands: Food Should Taste Good, Justin’s, Larabar, Little Ducks Organics, SmartWool, Sprout Wellness Basics, and Teatulia. Not only are my taste buds excited about the goodies, the package itself made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I am so incredibly grateful and touched!

Work went well; we got an insane shipment of packages and the time flew by. Before I knew it I was home for dinner.

I wasn’t expecting much from this meal but I ended up loving it. I sautéed sliced mushrooms, green peppers, and sweet onions in Earth Balance and salt and served them on top of basmati rice with Sriracha and Nayo stirred in.

I shoveled in my bowl in about a minute and adored every bite!

More group project work went down from 9 -11 (pm!!) and I shared a Pumpkin Shock Top with a friend while we worked.

I planned on getting into the pumpkin Blue Moon too but I’m basically the walking ~~dead~~ asleep at this point so I’m glad I stuck with half a beer.

I hope everyone else had a happy, happy, joy, joy day too! Or if not, please enjoy your weekend!

10Nov2012

Vegan Visit

by Emily

A road trip is not an easy time for a restricted diet, but with a combination of preparation and an understanding family I made it work.

I made sitting in the car for six hours work by dressing in comfy-cute clothing.

Plus my driving moccasins.

<– name that show!

Food from home was for breakfast. A sandwich of tempeh, Smart Balance, and strawberry jam (a killer combination) on a Sandwich Thin.

A small apple.

A piece of leftover Halloween candy.

And a sugar-free Red Bull from a gas stop.

I have been seriously tired lately; I need to make sleep a priority next week or I should basically just buy stock in energy drinks.

For lunch I was jazzed to spot a Sheetz.

I had a medium soy milk latte with marshmallow syrup.

I’m doubtful that the syrup was actually vegan but I’m taking a loose approach to the challenge on this trip. The coffee was delicious with tons of foamed milk and I was glad I got it, vegan or not.

Plus a veggie burrito.

This was not delicious. I made myself eat half so I wouldn’t be too hungry for dinner but if there had been other options I probably would have tossed the whole thing.

For dinner we got Italian food with my in-laws. P.S. We are staying with Adam’s sister and her husband and getting to spend time with my two nieces is making my ovaries hurt; they are so flipping cute!

A piece of bruschetta to start.

The waitress was very nice about bringing me new tomatoes when the first batch came out sprinkled with cheese.

And two slices of veggie pizza (sans cheese) for dinner.

Healthy, vegan, and tasty; I’ll take it.

7Nov2012

Feeling Blue

by Emily

My pain pills (which I think I don’t need any more, yay!) have made my appetite all sorts of wonky these past two days. And some life stuff has made me super cranky. I hate feeling like I have to post when I’m in a bad mood, but so many of the things I ate (of the very many things I ate!) have been winners that I want the post for my own memory. This will be detail-light though.

Honeycrisp.

Rockstar Juiced.

Winter outfit.

My downgraded hand bandage.

Organic Rice Divine Mud Pie Ice Cream (1 cup). This stuff was ah-mazing. The texture was reminiscent of Italian Ice and peanut butter-chocolate is always a winning combo. I especially liked the cookie pieces.

A healthy lunch.

Roasted green beans dipped in ketchup,

and Cilantro Lime Bean Burgers with Citrus Guacamole.

An entire bag of bbq Popchips for dinner.

Melted peanut butter with powdered sugar and good cocoa. This snack is ridiculous good but also just ridiculous. I need to quit cold turkey.

Chocolate dipped coconut Luna Bar.

Happy Tot Blueberry, Apple, and Purple Carrot squeeze pouch (FNCE sample).

Vegan almond joy.

Supplement sampling at clinic. Not vegan but also not optional.

Veggie sub – lettuce, tomato, red pepper, jalopeño, banana pepper, pickles, and yellow mustard – from the hospital cafeteria.

Amy’s vegan mac and cheese.

Honey roasted peanuts. By the by, honey is still on the table, so to speak, this Vegan Month.

Tempeh Brown Rice Casserole.

P.S. I am so flipping nervous about what election results we are going to wake up to tomorrow. Anyone else?

4Nov2012

I’m Typing With One Hand…

by Emily

…so I’ll keep this short. Speaking of keeping things, Adam will have to keep me, my surgery went off without a hitch!

It wasn’t a big deal – I just had a benign keratosis removed from the back of my hand – but they sure were dramatic about it.

I had to wear a gown, and get wheeled into the OR. And look at my giant bandage –

they called it a “sympathy cast!” I’ll have my stitches in for ten days and then I’ll be right as rain. But unfortunatly they told me that I’m not allowed to work out while my stitches are in. I know I haven’t been working out anyway but I really was excited to start again! Ten days…

They told me to take it easy after surgery but I actually had to head over to a friend’s house to work on a group project. At least I got some Moe’s out of the deal.

I got a naked burrito (aka a less expensive rice bowl) with black beans, lettuce, green pepper, onion, mushroom, corn salsa, and guacamole.

Delicious. Moe’s is a great option for Vegan Month.

Resting up didn’t happen the rest of the weekend either, I worked both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday morning was rough (on top of everything else we started an hour earlier than usual), but at least my shirt matched my bandage!

I ate an apple on the walk to work.

And a drank a Rockstar to help keep myself awake in spite of my pain medication.

My medication makes me feel pretty funny – nauseous and tired and all sorts of loopy – so I never ended up getting lunch at work.

Dinner was a buffalo seitan wrap from the co-op.

Plus a roasted potato.

Those fries are cut so nicely because the husband did it for me. He’s been so nice helping me while I fumble around!

I did manage to catch up on some sleep this morning. Thank goodness for Daylight Savings. Even with the extra hour, all I managed to accomplish today was a shift at work and switching out my summer and winter wardrobe.

Breakfast was an amazing bowl of cereal. Blackberries with cinnamon sugar, 1 serving each All Bran Bran Buds and Cascadian Farm Dark Chocolate Almond Granola, and Blue Diamond Unsweetened Vanilla Almond/Coconut Milk.

I had the granola from the HLS and have wanted more ever since!

A very late lunch was purchased at the co-op after work. Broccoli salad and vegan mac and cheese with veggies.

The mac was so tasty that I almost made Adam walk back and get me more!

Instead I was basically stoned on pain meds all evening and was a total weirdo. Dinner just didn’t happen, though I did eat multiple desserts.

A bowl of melted peanut butter with powdered sugar and cocoa powder.

A Cara Cara Orange.

And a few pieces of primrose oil old fashioned candies.

It’s been a weird day.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: peppers

Hello, 2013

Our New Christmas Traditions

Use Your Noggin

It’s Begining To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Vegan Visit

Feeling Blue

I’m Typing With One Hand…