Tag Archives: peppers

All Hail

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It’s always nice when your routine gets shaken up. Tuesday means today was a clinic day, but the private practice rd I was placed with asked if I’d like to come in in the evening to help with a health fair and I happily agreed. A later clinic time meant I could switch up the rest of my day too. I took advantage of the time and made a traditional breakfast.

Eggs!  I sautéed ~ 1/2 cup each chopped okra and spinach in 1/2 Tbsp butter, a sprinkle of salt, and a drizzle of Sriracha. Then I scrambled in 2 large eggs and a chopped cheese stick.

Plus a sliced apple on the side.

I was glad for something warm because the apartment was far from toasty. I checked the thermostat before we turned the heat back on last night and the temperature inside was 63*! My walk to school was freezing and culminated in hail as I reached the building!

The walk home was warmer since I took advantage of my switched schedule and went to the gym after stats. 40 minutes on the stationary bike at random, level 6.

I also had lunch with a friend while I was on campus.  She switched out of Dietetics a few months back and I don’t get to see her as often so it was nice to hang.  I grabbed a grilled tofu roll from the cafeteria sushi place.

It was a little bland; I used up all of my wasabi before I was halfway through.

When I got home I also had the last of the Sahale Snacks glazed almonds.

And this cherry cola hard candy.

I bought it at Cracker Barrel in Ohio and was worried I would love it and want more but after consumption I’m glad I only bought one.  Not bad, but not the flavor I was looking for.  Besides, anytime I have a hard candy I end up chomping it ten seconds in.

I’m not sure what the exact plan is for tonight but I’m hoping to get home in time to read a book.  See ya later!

Thai One On

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Good food, good friends, and a bit of work; ’twas the perfect Sunday!

Any day is sweet when your morning starts off like this –

If you don’t want to start your day with sweetened condensed milk I’m not sure we can be friends.  I only had a small taste, I was using the SCM in a fun recipe and licking the spoon is practically a requirement.

We had brunch plans at noon so I also had this Cara Cara Orange in the a.m. to hold me over.

Good thing too, the wait ended up being lengthy.

Thankfully Betty’s was worth the time.

3rd year has been busy so it was great to get together with some medical school friends.


Apparently I think smoky eyes are a brunch look.

A Bloody Mary (extra spicy) was ordered the minute we got to our table.

Not gonna lie – I got a little buzzed; I’m officially a light-weight.

For my meal I had my eye on the vegetable hash –

Corn and poblano peppers topped with runny eggs sounds like heaven on a plate, but sadly they had run out.  I ended up making a last-minute decision and choosing the apple and cranberry french toast streusel casserole.

The casserole was good but I should have stuck with savory, I just wasn’t feeling sweet.  I ate about half plus two incredible stolen bites of Adam’s lox Benedict.

I didn’t have to wait long to eat again (do I ever?!); we went to the movies this afternoon and I polished off 90% of these pretzel bites.

This is literally the only time I would ever considering eating fake cheese, but boy do I shovel it in with pretzel bites!  We saw “Cabin in the Woods.”  I hate horror films a lot (even “horror comedies”) but we’re obsessed with Joss Whedon so we had to go.  I didn’t adore the movie itself but I loved the fact that it was basically a giant commentary on the genre.  No “Serenity” though 😉

Our friends were talking about the “five languages of love” at brunch so when we got home we decided to take the quiz.  Here are my results –

And here are Adam’s –

We both are indifferent to gifts but need physical touch and quality time (I could have told you that before the quiz!)  You’ll notice that I care much more about acts of service than Adam; a good thing since I’m basically worthless!

But I did make us an awesome snack.

When we lived in Park Slope there was a coffee shop on our block with the best-ever coffee granita.  We were obsessed and Adam got a granita for free two years in the row because he was the first person to order it at the end of winter.  This was my attempt at a Thai Iced Coffee style granita.

I know it looks like dog food but I promise that the taste and texture were great.  Here’s the recipe –

Thai Iced Coffee Slush, serves 6

  • 6 heaping Tbsp espresso roast ground coffee
  • 3 cups water
  • 14 oz can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
  1. Place grounds and water in coffee maker of choice and brew according to manufacture’s instructions.  Remove finished coffee from heat and allow to cool completely.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together coffee and sweetened condensed milk until homogenous.
  3. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9 inch glass casserole dish and place in the freezer.
  4. Freeze 8 hours or until fully frozen.  Use a fork to break up the mixture every 2 hours or so, scraping the tines through until you’ve achieved a texture similar to wet sand.
  5. Serve immediately.  Slush will keep in the freezer indefinitely but you may need to use a blender to break it up if you wait more than 1 – 2 days to serve.

We loved it!  The slush was milky and sweet but the coffee flavor was strong.  Each serving has less than 200 calories so it’s the perfect light, summer treat.

We weren’t done having fun yet; next we cashed in a Living Social deal for dinner at Spicy Thai.  Spicy Thai has my favorite pad see eiw in Buffalo but I was craving spice so I branched out.

Spicy Tofu – “(comes hot and only hot) fried tofu with green beans sautéed in spicy chili, garlic, and basil.”  I requested mine extra hot and with broccoli thrown in for some extra veggies.

Awesome.  It actually wasn’t as spicy as I’d hoped but the flavors were delicious.  I loved how the tofu was a little bit sweet.  I ate 2/3s and then gave the rest, and all of my rice, to the husband.

He ordered the Pad See Eiw and I took many bites of that as well.

Marshmallow noodles!

My tofu may not have been hot but my dish did come with some of these killer Thai peppers.

I always pick around the darker dried ones (I had a really bad experience at a Panda Express once) but today I tried one of the soft, bright red pieces.  I spent a minute in tears with a tongue that felt like it had a hole in it, but ended up with a really pleasant spice flavor.  Adam – who used to ardently hate all things hot – even tried one.

I’m so proud of him for branching out!  He’s even the occasional Sriracha fan now.

On our way home we stopped in at Starbucks to get me the chocolate hazelnut tart that I’ve been mooning at for weeks.

I Googled when we got home and if I’d know that this guy only had 180 calories I probably would have gotten one sooner!  The shortbread crust was everything I was hoping it would be.

Actually, Adam attempted to get me one of those last week but misunderstood and purchased a little apple pie instead (no thanks).  I may not have eaten his treat but I was incredibly thrilled by the gesture.  I guess I do care a little bit about gifts!

What is your most important language of love?

Sugar Saturday

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Today’s been sweet, literally.  And it’s not over yet; I’m having a bowl of ice cream the minute I publish this post!

Breakfast was another fabulous yogurt-cottage cheese mix.  A Liberte Coconut Yogurt served over the 1+ serving of 1% large curd cottage cheese.  Plus a sprinkle of toasted coconut.

I don’t really enjoy cottage cheese by its lonesome, but mixed into yogurt or oatmeal it’s the bee’s knees.

We ran errands for what felt like forever today (3 stores for groceries?!!) and for lunch I introduced Adam to Manhattan Bagel.

I had a toasted jalopeño cheddar bagel with lox cream cheese.  The bagels were great, nice and chewy, but the service was so bad I doubt we’d ever go back to that location [the Delaware location for any reading locals].

A frozen iced coffee was split at Wegmans.

Plus 4 pieces of salt water taffy from the bulk bins for dessert.

Watermelon was a favorite but I also enjoyed cherry cola and cookie dough.

For dinner we cashed in a Living Social deal for Thai House.  We tried a lot and overall it was good but not great.  Our appetizer was little fried cups with crab meat.

Meh.  I only ate two but Adam did finish the rest.

Our meals came with soup so we both ordered Tom Yum.

Yum indeed; (jeez that was corny!) the soup was perfectly sour.

Another plus was the 2-1 deal on “thai-iced” beverages.

The husband did coffee and I did tea.

Delicious.

And for my meal I ordered the House Noodles, extra spicy.

Broad rice noodles with brocoli, boy choy, peppers, and egg.  The extra spicy was actually spicy, a major plus over other local Thai places.  But the noodles didn’t have the amazing “marshmallow” quality that I look for in good broad rice noodles.

Now we are home enjoying Cokes with lime.

And ice cream soon!  Tomorrow brings lots of studying for Monday’s exam and a visit to the theatre for The Hunger Games!!!

Beer Baby Belly

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Friday’s here!  There is lots to do this weekend to make up for missing last week but weekend time is always good.  Today lots of food was eaten to make up for missing ….. who am I kidding?  I never miss a meal!

Breakfast was a white chocolate macadamia Clif Bar.

Lunch was pizza-pizza.  Double because I had double slices!  I had to stay at school after class for a group project and by the time I headed home at 2 I was ravenous.  I stopped at Zetti’s for two gigantic slices.

Bbq chicken and veggie.  The veggie slice was loaded with vegetables; broccoli, spinach, and several types of peppers.  I was full to the brim afterwards, mostly with cheese, but at least I got in some solid servings of vegetables.

This evening I went to a baby shower.

It was my first ever shower experience other than the one for my wedding.  I can’t even tell you all of the cute shower ideas I spotted, it was like Pinterest come to life!

The party included a sit-down dinner.

Side salad, mixed vegetables, and a bit of stuffing.  I wasn’t feeling the heavier stuff after my huge lunch.

I did grab a few handfuls of blue-for-boy candy though.

And a Michelob Ultra.

Thirst quenching because it’s basically water 🙂

I got home a bit before 9 and Adam and I took a gloriously long walk down Elmwood.  A bit over two miles which isn’t really long but ate up some time due to ambling.

We stopped at the Village Beer Merchant at the halfway point and split a beer of the root variety.

I ❤ Abita, even its nonalcoholic varieties.  I have a six-pack of Abita Strawberry in my office waiting for the summer to come.

How many baby showers have you attended?

I’m Relleno

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Hello from Ohio.  We’re not here for a happy reason but I’m happy we made it here safely.

We stayed up late catching up on TV last night and I got hungry again.  I served myself a big bowl of cereal with skim milk; Cheerios and some raisin/bran/crunch thing.

I had breakfast food for my late-night snack and dinner food for breakfast.

A grilled cheese with Cabot 50% Reduced Sharp Cheddar and Sriracha mayo,

and a sliced honey crisp.

This meal was great but my next bite was terrible.  I stole a piece of Adam’s chicken bites from McDonalds –

Ewwwwwww!  So fried tasting and gross.

My dad flew into Buffalo this afternoon and we picked him up at the airport and headed off on our road trip.  Since we had a “road-guest” we stopped for an actual dinner.

Torero’s served us some damn fine Mexican food!  Pretty healthy too!  Here was my plate –

Black beans,

rice,

and the Vegi-chiladas.  “Steamed carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, yellow squash and zucchini rolled into two flour tortillas, topped with our salsa Mazatlán and garnished with Monterrey Jack cheese.  Served with sour cream, lettuce, and tomatoes.”

I ordered my enchiladas sans cheese because I also had a chile relleno waiting for me on my dad’s plate.

Stuffed peppers are usually my favorite Mexican dish but this guy was a little too fried for me.  I ended up eating about a third of everything, except I ate 1.25 tortillas and every single bite of vegetable.

I ate two Samoa Jumbles in the car for dessert.

Still good.

Where is your favorite road trip stop?

Thursday and Friday

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What I’ve Eaten –

What I’ve Been Up To –

  • School has been exciting.  Yesterday I hung out at a pediatric endocrine clinic and today we had a guest lecture from a leading renal dietitian.
  • I’m still sick.  Super sick.  Boo.
  • Also, remember when I said this – “[Adam] was sick last week, I’m sick this week; as long as the dog is healthy next week it’s all good.”?  I jinxed us.  The dog has a massive eye infection and was dropped off at the vet this afternoon.  My poor baby!
  • We are heading to Ohio tomorrow evening.  We’re spending a few days with family and then coming home on Tuesday after the funeral.

What I’m Thankful For –

  • I had an amazing grandpa in my life until I was 26 years old.
  • My teachers are all being great about helping me make up the exams/clinic hours I’m missing to attend the funeral.
  • My dad is flying to Buffalo and driving to Ohio with us.

Loop De Loop

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I’m going to apologize in advance just in case this post makes no sense.  I’m tired, and sick, and pretty damn loopy.

After my run and cookie consumption I started the day cautiously optimistic that I would keep feeling good.

To eat in class I packed a green pear,

and a 2% Pineapple Siggi’s.

I loved the 2% fat content of this yogurt but the pineapple was pretty weak.  There was no pineapple flavor and the pieces of fruit were few and far between.  But the yogurt itself was wonderful.  I enjoy the original Siggi’s and the 2% variety was a little sweeter and the texture very creamy and less stiff.

Adam was done at the hospital around the same time I finished my classes so I walked home to meet him for a date before work.  I’m not even gonna lie – he took me to dinner at my school’s food court and it was the best damn date I’ve ever been on.  I love spending time with the husband so much!  First we stopped in at Ashker’s for smoothies since we have a Groupon.

I can’t remember my exact selection but I know that it had a few fruits, carrots, and ginger.

It would have been fantastic except that I forgot that I freaking hate ginger.  The texture was spot on but it was just way too spicy for me.  I could only drink a third or so but the husband happily finished off the rest.

Then we walked back to campus.  I work in the basement of a dorm building so Adam clearly couldn’t hang out with me but I’m a total creeper so the simple fact that he was in the same building as me was exciting.

We were both starving (like gnaw your own arm off starving) so we hit up the food court and ended up discovering a new, totally adorable, perfectly priced “asian” kiosk.  We split a Vietnamese coffee for 99 cents.

And I got a tasty lobster roll.

It was good!

We are bottomless pits so we got pizza too.  $4 for two slices packed with toppings; apparently college food courts are the place to go for a cheap date!

My veggie slice came with banana peppers, roasted red peppers, and black olives.

Tonight was my last shift at work (the calling sessions only last for a month) and I was sad to say goodbye.  Of course there are people who are total jerks to tele-fund-raisers but most people were really nice!  I had several older alumni sweetly tell me that they loved talking to me.  I’ll miss it!

I’m not sure anyone will miss me after tonight though; today’s sickness levels hit their peak mid-shift and I basically hacked up a lung in the corner all evening.  By the time I met Adam I could barely talk.  The loopiness had set in at that point so it’s possible I also told bad jokes and laughed like a hyena the whole walk home but I can’t really blame that on the sickness.

But it definitely was my sore throat that demanded a strawberry milkshake.

Mmmmn, if I could set up a constant stream of icy beverage down my throat that would be excellent.

I had to stay up to set up my class schedule for next semester (I can register tomorrow morning) but now it’s clearly time for bed.  So goodnight!

Humbolt Fog

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Last night’s sleep session was a disaster.  Usually my sleep issues are related to falling asleep but lately if I get woken up I can’t fall back to sleep either.  The dog woke us up in the middle of the night and it took me at least another hour of tossing and turning to get back to rest.  The husband brought home some sort of bug from the hospital and my throat was killing me.

I overslept today and the morning was rushed but I managed to do what I needed to do, mostly.  I was heading to the gym after 9 am so sticking with my monthly goal I ate a small breakfast before I left.  A few sips of strawberry Powerade Zero,

and a half of a Vanilla Almond Luna Bar.

I didn’t have much time at the gym but something was better than nothing.  20 minutes on the elliptical at random level 7.

After a quick walk home and an even quicker shower I made a Lemon Cookie Smoothie for breakfast.

The last time I made it was apparently a dark and stormy night and I wanted a chance to get some better less awful photographs for the recipe page.

It probably wasn’t my best use of time though; I made it halfway through my smoothie before I had to throw it away and rush out the door.  I didn’t have time to pack lunch and having half a smoothie digesting in my stomach just made my hunger stronger all afternoon.

I got out of clinic a bit early and when I spotted a Manhattan Bagel on the drive home it felt like an oasis in the desert.

I was eating the chips that came with my meal before I was even out of the parking lot.

But chips only seemed to anger the beast (aka my stomach) and I ended up eating my bagel on the ride home!

Eating while driving is sort of nice because instead of dreading red lights you can use them to shove food into your face.  And my bagel was quite enjoyable; I got a veggie sandwich on a rye bagel.

Red onion, lettuce, tomato, banana peppers, veggie cream cheese, and a little bit of chipotle mayo.  I thought the veggies were pretty weak but the bagel was super chewy and good.

I had my 2nd to last shift at work this evening and then I came home to an easy salad dinner.

I needed a vehicle for a veggie, a fruit, and this amazing looking cheese, and salad fit the bill.

This Cypress Grove Humbolt Fog Chevre was delicious.  Sadly the blue cheese and goat cheese were in layers and not the hybrid mixture I was hoping for, but both were quite tasty.

Along with chunk of cheese I had romaine lettuce, groats, chopped honey crisp apple, and Stubbs BBQ Sauce for dressing.

Those ingredients sound strange together but it worked.

I’ll see y’all in the am for some running and some baking!