Tag Archives: peppers

Wednesday – Thursday, Still On The Move

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Hello again from another location, this time Ohio.  Once we get home from here we have a day trip to Toronto and then I’m staying put until the end of break!

Wednesday

Yesterday was Adam’s and my 4-year wedding anniversary, aka our 9-year anniversary of being together!!!  It’s crazy to think that we’ve shared so much of our lives.  Sappy sidenote – I am grateful every day that I get to spend with my husband.  I am so thankful that the man I love is handsome and funny in addition to being intelligent and kind. </sap>

I had an early morning orthodontist appointment and we had to do a grocery restock and then we reunited with another man I love.

I sort of want to get those pictures framed.

Adam and I spent our anniversary doing our favorite things – namely tons of eating good food and cuddling on the couch watching good tv.  A big, made from scratch breakfast felt downright gourmet.

For the eggs, we went to the deli and requested two, 1/4 inch-thick slices of honey roasted turkey.

We chopped them up and sautéed them in a bit of butter, then scrambled in 4 large eggs.

Out of control delicious.  I quit eating most meat (mammals) before I had gotten to try everything and I suspect that I would really enjoy ham.

We also had hash browns made with white potatoes, onion, red bell pepper, 2 Tbsp of butter, and 2 tsp of chipotle oil.

Adam bought me some fourth year gifts for our anniversary.

A book with a sweet inscription, persimmons for fruit and rugelach for flour (substituted for flour because we were going out-of-town).

I’ve been picking up the persimmons and deciding that they were too expensive to splurge on for weeks at the grocery, so they were such a nice surprise.  We split part of one persimmon but decided that it wasn’t ripe enough yet.

Adam was careful to buy squishy ones because once in the city, before we knew better, we tried to eat an unripe persimmon and about died when all the moisture was sucked from our mouths!  This one had a good flavor but was still a little cotton-mouthy.  So we washed it away with rugelach.

The snack was perfect to bring us into lunch.

I had an Applegate Farms Turkey Bologna sandwich on half a cheddar jalapeno bialey with a little bit of Miracle Whip.

Plus a huge pile of roasted green beans.

Adam hates jalapeno but knew I’d like that bialey more than the others and I gave him the half with more cheese, so we both compromised in the name of love.

It would have been easy and fun to go out for a romantic dinner, so I’m extra proud of us that we stayed home and cooked together instead.

I started by steam-sauteing 3 chopped zucchini in a bit of chicken stock.  Then I finished them off with 1 Tbsp of evoo and this packet of Garlic Gold I got in my HLS swag.

I was expecting to adore the Garlic Gold after all the love it got in the healthy living blog community, but we found it to be pretty “meh.”

We set the cooked zucchini aside and while Adam boiled 3 servings of pasta I made a roux with 2 Tbsp of butter, 2 Tbsp of flour, and 1 Tbsp of milk.  Into that, I whisked 1 cup of skim milk and 1/2 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese.  Once the sauce came together all we had to do was toss it with the cooked squash and pasta.

We topped our bowls with a bit of panko and more cheese.

Dinner was great, definitely as good as anything we would have gotten in a restaurant.  This was on the healthy side, but now I am absolutely going to make a similar sauce and use it in oozey, gooey mac and cheese.

We stayed up later than planned watching “That 70’s Show,” which was good for anniversary fun but bad for me working out this morning.  I can’t do anything active here in Ohio and I’m worried that all my vacation workout momentum will be for naught.

Thursday

Today was a day of many meals.  Due in parts to time of the month and restlessness from 7 hours in the car.  And we got junky food too; a healthy living blog no-no but an unavoidable part of existing in the real world.

Chicken biscuit from Chick-fill-a.

The leftover serving of dinner.

A juicy pear.

Animal crackers split with Adam (70/30 his favor).

Mid-way we got to stop for froyo.

I got eggnog and toffee mocha yogurts, topped with candy bar pieces and some marshmallow topping.

Alas both of my flavors were too spicy and I ended up throwing most of mine away.  It was a sad day indeed.

But hundreds of miles later we found a Sonic and I ordered a diet coke with strawberry that totally made up for it.

Adam and I also split fries and chicken tenders.

Good thing my grandma served a lateish dinner, huh?

Webster was a perfect angel for 95% of the drive.

We even got to take him in to meet my grandpa this afternoon.  I like it when all the men in my life are well-acquainted.

Per usual, my grandma made a great dinner.

Side salad,

cooked spinach with feta and cherry tomatoes,

truffle mac and cheese to make up for Adam not having any on Christmas,

and italian breaded chicken, 

which I only could eat a few bites of because I felt like food was coming out of my ears.

After dinner, Nana and Adam worked on a 750-piece puzzle while I wrote this monster post.  I hate all these super long posts I’ve been writing lately!  I know none of my readers are interesting in scrolling for hours, but since I use my blog as a journal I don’t want to skip days that are so great.  I promise to get back to a less annoying schedule once I’m home for good.

St. Thomas to Buffalo

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Monday

Yesterday was the perfect last day on island.

I got to see some of my favorite people and eat some of my favorite things.

I tried to eat this honey fig Oikos for breakfast.

The flavor seemed like something I would love but one bite in I was twisting up my face in disgust. Why so sour?!?

Instead I ate some leftover crack pie.

And an old-fashioned strawberry candy for good measure.

My unorthodox breakfast didn’t matter, because I had something good coming for lunch.

Chicken patty!

Pattys (pronounced like pate) are fried dough stuffed with spiced meat.

Amazing. The dough is chewy and the filling (usually beef or saltfish, but sometimes salmon or even veggies) is always tender and perfectly seasoned.

My parents and I spent the afternoon walking around downtown with my visiting aunt, uncle, and cousins. Important note – some of the best foods from my childhood are found in town and I spent the rest of the day eating myself silly.

The #1 best thing I had all vacation was this glass of soursop (guanabana) juice.

I never find soursop in the states but it will always be my favorite fruit. It’s sweet and almost creamy.

A while later I bought a fraco with milk (shaved ice with sweetened condensed milk).

I went with tamarind and passionfruit, more local flavors.

I only could handle half of it but that’s really all you need.

And for my final drink of the afternoon we cracked open a jellynut (aka a green coconut).

The water was more sour than I prefer, but I grabbed a long spoon and scraped out all of the sweet flesh.

That evening my parents and I headed back into town so we could eat dinner at Gladys’ Cafe.

I started with a slice of bread with butter.

And a bowl of callaloo (a thick soup made with spinach and okra).

My meal was the special plate, and it was exactly what I was craving.

Mac and cheese,

cole slaw,

rice and beans,

fried plantains,

and stewed chicken.

I could get past the bones to eat much chicken, but I stirred my rice and beans into the sauce and was in heaven.

We ended our evening with a glorious walk down the waterfront.

For nighttime entertainment I headed back to my high school friends’ apartment.

Vodka/something, x2.

Several old friends were there and I was so glad to get to see everyone. Adrien found his old year book which was perfect and hysterical. They were Adam’s grade, so no pictures of me, but I did see a few great ones of the husband!

Tuesday

Today I had to head back to Buffalo; which did at least mean a rendezvous with Adam.

The food situation today was pretty bad. That’s what 13+ hours in the airport will do!

In the St. Thomas airport I ate a johnny-cake with cheese.

On flight 1 I read this book.

In the Miami airport I wandered.

And got drawn in by this sign –

I actually ended up buying a very healthy sandwich.

As well as a very decadent sounding slice of cake.

The dulce de leche did not disappoint!

When I wasn’t eating on flight 2, I was reading.

After a quick scamper through Chicago I was on flight 3 starting my third book.

And before I knew it, I was home with the husband.

We stopped at Moe’s on the way home to pick up a quick and healthy dinner.

After my carb-filled day week I requested that they go light on the rice and cheese.  Topped with cilantro, green pepper, onion, mushrooms, and corn salsa.

Off to unpack I go!  P.S. It’s our fourth wedding anniversary tomorrow!

Merry Christmas In St. Thomas

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I hope everyone is continuing to have happy holiday season!  I know that booze and beaches don’t feel very winter-holiday festive to most of my readers, but to me they feel like home.  We’ve done lots of traditional food and family this year too.  If Adam had been home this would have been my perfect Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Saturday morning, after my run, we met up with my aunt and cousins (the visiting set) for breakfast at Barefoot Buddha.  I got an iced coffee with Silk soy milk.

Barefoot Buddha is my favorite restaurant in St. Thomas (I ate the Bigfoot Bagel Sandwich on the morning of my wedding!) and our meal did not disappoint.  My mom and I split two sandwiches so we could get lots of flavor.

The wrap special had tons of veggies, sesame tofu, and a peanut sauce.

And the Bigfoot Bagel Sandwich had egg, turkey, turkey bacon, cream cheese, and a chipotle aioli.

Yum and yum.

The day was spent on holiday preparations and I ate a handful of carrots at one point for some crunchy energy.

Then it was time to celebrate.

My family has thrown a big (tequila shot flowing) Christmas Eve party for as long as I can remember and it felt a little strange not to have one this year.  But the visiting family came over for dinner and then a big group met for drinks at the Island Time Pub and it was nice in a new way.

We had Hanukkah dinner leftovers for dinner.

Salad,

a little bit each of pineapple chili salmon and sour cream dill salmon,

and more potato latkes.

I also had a 7-layer bar and a small slice of “crack pie” before we headed out.

Then I had a great time getting to drink and chat with a bunch of family and friends.  O-bomb shot,

black and coke,

jack and ginger.

Funny, I did not end up running Christmas morning 🙂

Christmas

Christmas with my parents was perfect, though Adam was very missed.

Great minds think alike – my mother and I ended up buying each other the same doxie pen!

While we unwrapped I had a coffee with eggnog,

and a cherry cordial straight from my stocking.

Then our visiting family came over for breakfast.

Turkey sausage,

egg and cheese casserole,

half a mini bagel with cream cheese,

and a piece of 7-layer bar.

Plus a piece of sour candy cane my cousins brought me later.

Then Christmas afternoon was spent on the water.

Fun fact – here is a (far away) shot of the beach where Adam and I got married!

A Christmas tradition is to spend the day in “Christmas Cove.”  There were 40+ boats all connected together but I never did get a good shot.

The crystal light-vodka-whatever I was handed may have had something to do with that.

Is there anything more perfect than Christmas at the beach?

After we washed off the salt, everyone went to my (St. Thomas based) aunt and uncle’s house for Christmas dinner.

Before we headed over I made myself a plate of apple slices and latkes,

but the combination of booze and sun must have hit me hard because I hit the fruit and cheese spread like there was no tomorrow.

Everyone was (lovingly) teasing me about the blog so I did manage to take a picture of every single (9!) cracker/cheese bite!

But I did keep my dinner plate simple.  One thing for health and one thing for fun.

A big pile of salad,

and a big pile of truffle mac and cheese.

The husband is going to be so very jealous; last year he finished off three plates of that macaroni!

After a long-long day we just had to squeeze in one more piece of festivity, so my mom and female cousins and I went out for girly embarrassing drinks.

That’s a virgin pina colada, and even sans alcohol it was a little too much for me.  Merry Christmas indeed!

Monday

Today is my last day on island, so I made sure to get an early start.  My amazing mother drove me to school before 8 so I could get in final run on the field.  ~1 +ish mile ran.  I forgot my sunscreen so I kept it short.  Now as soon as I get some party pictures e-mailed I’m off to soak up as much family time as I can.

Do you Christmas/Hanukkah traditions include any beach time?

Pregnant in Philly

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Ever since the Healthy Living Summit I’ve been thinking about one thing.  Not blogstalking new people; I’ve been too busy for that.  Not how to improve my blog, though obviously that should be high on my list.  For me, Philly was all about the Philly.

The vegan Philly Cheese Steak.  The minute I took that first chewy yet crunchy bite I knew this was something I’d have to recreate at home.

We hollowed out a roll of Italian bread, piled it high, and melted on two slices of 2% Provolone cheese.  For our filling we sautéed together sliced mushrooms, sliced onion, thin strips of red pepper, and crumbled Seitan.

Meet the /mostly/ vegan Philly cheese steak /done at home/.

It was delicious.  But it wasn’t the delicious.  I was looking to relive the taste I experienced in Philadelphia – the savory yet tangy flavor, my need to pull pieces of the “meat” from my sandwich to eat with my fingertips – and this wasn’t quite there.  Still good though.

I plated myself a small bowl of filling on the side when we sat down.

But I ended up having more than enough food and leaving most of this, plus a few bites of bread, behind.

For the salad course of dinner we ate the remains of some romaine.

Topped with Kraft Light Parmesan Asiago Balsamic Vinaigrette and big handfuls of blue cheese crumbles and buckwheat groats.

My last bite was pure blue cheese and buckwheat and it was ridiculous good.  The crunchiness of the groats makes me enjoy salads 100% more than before.

Other than making a good dinner, I didn’t accomplish near enough this afternoon.  After all my morning workout motivation it was all I could do not to fall asleep on my notes this afternoon.  It didn’t help that Webster was being a distracting little stinker –

That is the top of the couch!  Why/how?!?

Pregnancy Chic?

The other half of my title comes from my afternoon admission that I rock tunic-style tops fairly regularly.  They look good on me, they hide the fact that I spent the summer watching Charmed on the couch, and I generally think they’re adorable.  Like this new top I got at the Banana Republic outlet this summer.

This top is super cute, especially the wrap-style boobs.

But when I was describing my look this morning I heard “second trimester chic” coming out of my mouth.

I’m good with it though.  I may be years away from pregnancy but I’ve already got a ton of concerns about all the things that come after getting knocked up.  At least I can cross *spending money on maternity clothes* off my list of worries, my current wardrobe should carry me through just fine!

Are you a fan of the “pregnancy chic” look or do you prefer tighter fitting tops?

Serendipitous Stop

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Hello from Ohio!  I’m so glad we had this long weekend so I had the chance to get over to visit my grandparents.  My grandpa is in the hospital at the moment unfortunately, but we’ll get to visit a bit and we’re hanging out with my grandma until Monday.

I went to bed at 3am last night this morning and my alarm went off at 7am so you know I turned to coffee.

Adam and I shared this cup, with a small splash of English Toffee syrup and a big splash of skim milk.

Webster had an appointment to get his booster shots so we headed to the vet’s office on the way out of town.  Adam took him alone for the first visit while I was at HLS and I was so impressed today with how brave he was.

He was a total champ on the car road too.  Most of the trip was spent like this,

or like this.

And he drank water out of a glass in the cup holder like a little traveler!

When we weren’t fawning over how cute the dog is, we were eating.  I didn’t get a chance to pack lunch for myself and I got very lucky with a serendipitous stop.  I was hungry and thirsty when I spotted a Chipotle so I asked Adam to pull over,

and then we realized that we were only 2 miles from froyo!

Booyah!  You’ve seen my froyo face, but here is my “froyo and Chipotle?!?” face –

self taken in the bathroom mirror because even I have a little shame.

We actually ate our froyo first.

I stuck with a theme and got a small cup of low-fat mint froyo topped with snowcaps, crumbled Andes, Oreos, and fudge sauce.

Swoon.

Then I ate my Chipotle rice bowl in the car.

They let me do a small scoop of rice topped with black beans, fajita veggies, corn salsa, mild salsa, and a tiny sprinkle of cheese.

I topped the whole thing off myself with TONS of green Tabasco.  Double swoon.

Other snacks included part of this apple which got warm and gross,

and this baggie of snacks (yogurt pretzels!) from my grandparents’ house.

We made it to Ohio in pretty good time and got to spend an hour visiting with my grandpa before coming home to a gourmet dinner.

I swear eating with my grandma makes you feel like you’re at a hotel!

Homemade cole slaw,

a slice of foccacia,

roasted asparagus,

and enchilada casserole.

I only left a bite or two on my plate but I definitely made room for dessert.

Homemade chocolate pie.  I scraped my crust off for Adam (crust is to filling like cake is to icing) but practically licked the rest of my plate clean.

The filling of this was like chewable pudding, so good!

I am stuffed, exhausted, and ready for bed.

Impulse Control

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I’ve made it to hump day and school is still going ok, phew!  I’ve attended 5 out of my 6 classes now and it seems like this semester is going to be doable.

We have a super long lunch break on Wednesdays so a group of friends and I decided to take advantage of the time and took a walk down Elmwood to lunch at The Spot.  We ended up walking a bit more than 2.5 miles round trip, booyah!  Between that and walking to and from school and with Webster I think I can practically count walking as a workout for today.

Lunch was a fun mix of flavors.  I can’t believe my Thai leftovers even lasted this long!

There’s less there than it looks, sad face, maybe about 1 cup’s worth of veggies and broad rice noodles.

Still nice and spicy though, I had to buy a cup of skim milk from The Spot to save my tounge.

I also packed some leftovers from last night’s dinner.

2 oz of Black and Blue Dip,

with celery and green bell peppers dipped in.

This was a great lunch, I love meals with lots of little pieces.

We got out just early enough from our final class that I had time to hurry home, cuddle Webster, and drive to the post office before it closed so I could mail a book I sold on Amazon.  While I was out I also picked up a few necessities from Target.  Including this impulse purchase –

Actually, I spotted a display of candy boxes at Wegmans on Sunday and have been obsessing about them ever since, so I’m not sure you can exactly call this an impulse purchase.  Definitely a good purchase though, look at some of those flavors –

Yum!

After taking Webs on a walk the husband and I threw together the quickest dinner ever.

It helps to keep things speedy when almost every item on the plate is a leftover.

Like these leftovers tacos.

We spread a thin layer of the Black and Blue Dip on corn taco shells,

added a layer of the sautéed veggies from last night (onion, red bell pepper, and mushroom),

and topped with a layer of this Newman’s Own Medium Pineapple Salsa.  <– divine

The seemingly random combo of flavors actually went together really well.  The dip is pretty savory and the salsa is a bit sweet and the texture of the veggies went perfectly with the crunchy taco shells.

Plus a serving of bbq kale and beans on the side.

I actually single-serving froze the rest of those leftovers so I have them for lunches later on.

You know what our after dinner plans were.

Another cup of red velvet tea with skim milk and a serving of chocolates.

Adam and I mostly split them but I kept the bananas foster flavor all to myself.  I’m actually finishing up my snack and we speak type.

What was the last thing you impulse purchased?

Dip for Dinner

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I finished all of my schoolwork for this week, wrote an article for the Dietetics newsletter, and made a deeply delicious dinner.  Go me!

The first round of dinner felt oh-so-sophisticated, dip and crudities.

The dip was my newest recipe creation, Black and Blue Dip:

Yield: 14 ounces; Prep Time: 10 minutes; Cook Time: 0

  • 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 oz (or 1/2 cup) blue cheese crumbles
  • 4 Tbsp light sour cream
  • 3 Tbsp A-1 steak sauce
  1. Place beans into the food processor and pulse until mostly smooth.
  2. Add blue cheese, sour cream, and steak sauce and pulse until well-combined, scraping down the sides of the food processor as needed.

The black beans and blue cheese are a fun flavor combo, the A-1 adds spice and depth, and the sour cream helps to smooth out the flavor.  Adam described this as meaty (and fun for all vegetables!) so I guess this had umami!  Each 2 oz serving had only 106 calories so this would be the perfect dip to bring to a party where you were hoping to keep things healthy.

I ate a 2 oz serving,

with baby carrots, green pepper, and celery dipped in.

Adam and I both agreed that this was a fabulous appetizer.

The second half of dinner was brinner.

I used 2 Tbsp of butter to saute 1 pint of sliced mushrooms, 1 sliced red bell pepper, and 1 Mayan onion.  We pulled out half of the cooked veggies for later use and scrambled the rest into 3 large eggs.

This dinner ended up being a little small but it’s bedtime so what can you do?  Meh.

What is your favorite thing to dip into blue cheese?  Baby carrots are good but pizza crusts are better!

Yesterday

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Hello, there.  I wrote this last night and intended to post but Webster was being a psycho and it got too late.  It’s a good thing he looked like this for several hours this afternoon or I might have smothered him.

Since I didn’t eat very much on Monday, I woke up yesterday starving.  I turned to the tuna noodle casserole Adam made while I was away.

Good job, husband! 

This was tasty and it filled me right up so I could work on my Sabra/Foodbuzz contest post.

Many nibbles were taken during the creation of those recipes.

But I still had time for lunch when all was said and done.

A toasted Bagel Thin with spinach and artichoke hummus dip,

plus a bowl of watermelon chunks.

For dessert I made myself 2 s’mores in the broiler.
It’s a lot easier to ignore the fact that your puppy is puking up the carpet he devoured when you’re eating a toasted marshmallow.

I also ate a serving of Raisin Bran Plus later in the afternoon.

This was supposed to be fuel for a free yoga class but since it was canceled at the last minute this ended up just replenishing my saddle bags.

For dinner Adam and I split these nachos.

I specifically said “whole black beans please, no refried beans” but for some reason these were loaded with both.

I still ate my full share though so I guess I shouldn’t complain.

Moving to the present… I just got home from an orthodontist appointment and most definitely ate these cookies on my drive home.

They did impressions and I just can’t stand having that gross chemical flavor in my mouth!

Now I’m off to find some real food.  I’m also headed to school to run a session with some incoming freshmen.  Have a great Hump Day!