Tag Archives: plum

Sun Shine

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My parents didn’t actually come to visit, not yet anyway.  They will be here soon (hopefully!) and it was a good day nonetheless.

Breakfast bowl.

Plain yogurt, sliced plums, fat-free sweetened condensed milk, and cinnamon.

1 – Cinnamon on yogurt is awesome.  2 – Having an open thing of SCM in the fridge has also been awesome.

When visitors come to town Adam and I like to pretend that we don’t regularly live in squalor so we cleaned the house.  Or rather, Adam cleaned the entire house and I made the bed and put away my own laundry.

Whatever, that bedspread hasn’t been on straight since the last time my parents were here.

For lunch we split a Mike’s Sandwich from The Spot.

I ordered, and when Adam asked me what we got I told him “a bagel with cholesterol, topped with cholesterol.”  Basically it’s an everything bagel with 2 eggs, melted provolone, and cream cheese.

It’s as amazing as it sounds.

Also amazing, was my workout.  60 minutes of hot yoga.  My standing series was pretty wobbly today but I made it further in a few of the seated poses than I have before.  I always leave the hot yoga classes feeling really, really happy.

Around 5, my dad called with some news.  The good news was they were still paying for dinner.  The bad news was they wouldn’t be eating with us.  I’m pissed that we lost a whole evening of visiting and fingers are crossed that they’ll be here at 10.

But we did have a fantastic dinner.  I keep a running list of ‘places to try’ on my cell phone and today we crossed off Sun Restaurant.

Sun sells Burmese and Thai cuisine and we tried a bit of both.

We started by sharing La Peth Thoat.  Burmese-style pickled tea leaf salad combined with crispy chana dal pea, fried garlic, onion, tomato, cabbage, peanuts, and lime juice.

I strongly liked it, Adam loved it.  The tea leaves and cabbage were delicious with the lime and the fried chickpeas (crispy chana dal pea) were fun to try.

I got Pad See U – ordered “Thai spicy” – as my entrée. Thai-style stir-fried wide rice noodles with thick sweet soy sauce, egg, broccoli, Napa cabbage, and bell pepper.

This was the best Thai food we’ve had in Buffalo!  My noodles were cooked perfectly and the dish was actually spicy.  I loved it.  I ate 2/3 of my plate and only managed to stop because I am so looking forward to having leftovers.

We split a Taro Custard for dessert.  Thai-style taro custard cake with coconut milk.

We’ve had this dessert at a couple of restaurants now and I think it’s just not our thing.  We both love the bites of taro but we always end up leaving food behind.

Please cross your fingers for us that my parents get in on time so we can have fun tomorrow!

Yoga Not YOLO

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I hate #yolo.  Every time I see those four letters my brain screams “do you mean ‘carpe diem,’ asshat?”  And you say it when you are doing something dumb.  People who get “carpe diem” tattoos usually do so with purpose and intend to live with purpose.  When people post “YOLO” facebook status updates it generally means they’re an idiot.  Also, this is the funniest thing ever –

Ok, rant’s over, I promise.  I actually had a really good day 🙂

I got to go to yoga!  Adam bought me a 2-month unlimited hot yoga Groupon for Valentine’s Day and I’m finally cashing in.  My goal (my intention) is to go three times a week for the next two months, minus the week I’m in Ohio with my parents.  Today I did a 75 minute flow class.  I’ve never tried flow before, and I wasn’t very good, but I loved it.

“I had to run errands at school after yoga so I decided to make it a cardio day as well” …I breezily say as if I work out all of the time!  I did today though.  40 minutes on the stationary bike at level 10 random.

On my walk to school between yoga and the gym I refueled with a Vanilla Stinger Waffle.

Oh my goodness was it good!  I thought it was going to be some sort of chew and it ended up being a cookie!

And I did feel great during my 2nd workout.  I totally bought more of these at the store today.

When I got home I made this strange but genius drink.

1 cup of cold (double bagged) red velvet cake tea with 1 cup of fat-free chocolate milk.  Adam and I both were big fans of this combo.

I did a couple of errands at school and I kept the productivity going all afternoon.  My most exciting to-done was signing up for malpractice insurance.  We are going to have our very own patients this year so we need to cover ourselves legally.  Thankfully student insurance is pretty cheap and it is fun to start to feel official.

My final errand was grocery shopping.  I got lunch from Wegman’s hot bar.

A jalapeño popper and a bit of macaroni,

and veggies.

We haven’t gotten hot bar in a while and sadly this didn’t thrill me the way it used it.

Along with the essentials, I bought a box of Fiber One Chocolate Chip Cookies on sale.

Super meh, but they were very cheap so I’m glad I tried.  The texture was way to cakey.  They will be good for throwing into my purse before work or class, but I’m pretty sure I won’t be buying more when I finish the six that came with this box.

I also bought chips at the store.

Buffalo and blue cheese ruffled chips.  I took one bite and knew that they were going to be dinner.  So I pushed back our planned meal and bought some dip.

Too much fun.  Adam randomly ate a ton of food at 5 pm so he didn’t need dinner anyway.

I did try to feel healthy by eating two plums for dessert though.

And I probably won’t do leftovers for dinner tomorrow!

What are your thoughts on #yolo?

Monday Tuesday

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The post title is supposed to reference yesterday’s, and the fact that I am finding myself completely unable to write a blog post.  I just feel like I have a case of bloggers’ block.  There are two upcoming posts that I’ve promised to do and I am practically incapable of getting them done.  Both are on my to-do list for tomorrow and for today I’ll keep it quick.

Breakfast was a total success.

I stirred together Wegman’s Vanilla on the Bottom Super Yogurt with a biiiig dollop of 1% small curd cottage cheese.  Then I topped with sliced plum, sliced nectarine, and a chopped up cookie dough truffle.

I needed something that would keep me full through the early afternoon and this did the trick.

Lunch was snacky.  A GoGo Squeez Apple Strawberry pouch.

And a Peanut Honey Pretzel Luna Bar.

The first time I tried this bar I didn’t know my socks off but today I was much more impressed.  I could really taste each flavor; the peanuts, honey, and pretzels somehow all managed to stand out from within the mix of flavors.

Dinner was cheesy chicken and rice.

Plus 2 servings of potato chips (bacon cheddar, but not really, these were still vegetarian) a few hours later.

And that’s all she wrote (ha!).

Bad News Bakers

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Have you ever had a string of fails in the kitchen?

I’m starting to seriously question my baking ability.  First, there was the Guinness cupcakes fail (apparently you can’t add beer to cake batter like the diet coke cake trick).  Then this weekend I learned this – adding strawberry pie filling to peanut butter cookie dough does not make pb & j cookies.  But as I told Adam as he was scraping an entire bowl of cookie dough into the trash, if I don’t at least try then I’ll never learn.

I was hoping to have a fun smoothie recipe to share today but I learned from that too.  Instead I had to turn to leftovers for breakfast.

This casserole was a fun mix of brown rice, shredded chicken, spinach, celery, toasted pecans, and fig butter.

Plus I had fruit and yogurt on the side.   Plain Siggi’s with blackberries, yellow plucot, and maple syrup.

It was a good meal.

And it’s always good to get a healthy start after several days of popcorn!

I took an extra long walk this afternoon.  Two friends from school came over and we took Webster on several loops of the neighborhood.  One of the girls recently switched majors and it was a great to get the chance to catch up with her.  Unfortunately now I have a huge painful blister on one of my toes; I can barely walk!

When I got back I ate a big spoonful (~2 Tbsp) of my new favorite thing.

Now that Wegman’s sells Crunchy Biscoff Spread my life is complete.

Lunch looked similar to breakfast, but had a flavor profile that was all its own.

I mashed roasted butternut squash with Miracle Whip, stirred in brown rice and roasted, shredded zucchini, and topped with some chopped 50% reduced fat cheddar.

Some people live without microwaves, how do they get things melty?

Dinner was melty too, but from the oven.  I roasted a sandwich thin with turkey, more reduced fat cheddar, and six (6!!) pickle slices.

Plus a pile of roasted green beans.

It’s not the first time I’ve had that meal this month and I don’t expect it to be the last.

In spite of my foot, the weather was too nice for me to not go another short walk with the husband.  We split a Push Up from the convenience store.

It felt like being 8 again!

Adam has a late start tomorrow and I’m on spring break so we plan on watching Stargate: Atlantis late into the night.  Woot!

P.S. I was gone yesterday because I got some frustrating news at my “final” orthodontist appointment – I’m back in retainers for three weeks.  Ugh!  So yesterday I was sulking and eating soft things.

Thank Goodness It’s Tuesday

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The title’s not sarcastic, we have a difficult assignment due this Thursday and I’m glad to still have a day standing between me and it!

My shift at work went well yesterday but when I got out at 9 I was just too tired to photograph, or blog, or think.  We do not do Daylight Saving Time where I grew up and my body still hasn’t quite gotten used to it.  Every year I am so exhausted for the weeks immediately following the time changes.

I needed a little extra help this morning too.

The vanilla flavored Doubleshot was very tasty.  I’d drink it for flavor alone if it weren’t for all the caffeine.

Solid food was good too.

I had a Siggi’s Strawberry topped with two sliced yellow plucots and a drizzle of maple syrup.

The yellow plucots were good but I think I prefer the dapple variety.  These were more tart.

When I walked to campus for stats this morning I was almost too hot in my winter coat.  And I definitely had to fan myself when I saw my score on the first exam –

Woot!

Clinic was good too.  I had my first teenage patient (I’ve been with adults and infants previously) and it was a different sort of interviewing experience.  We also met as a group for some interesting mini-discussions on anorexia nervosa and cystic fibrosis.

I was hungry and short on time after clinic so I made myself an Annie Chun’s Korean Sweet Chili Noodle Bowl.

I added a big handful of shredded carrots on top for veg.

It was good, and I very much liked the amount of heat to the sauce, but desperately in need of a crunch factor.  I have a few other flavors that I purchased on sale and I might stock up on peanuts to top them with.

Dinner was actually a blogger event.  T.G.I.Friday’s invited a bunch of local bloggers to try out their new menu.

The plates were portioned for sharing (and the light was pretty bad) so the media contact actually requested that we not take any food photographs.  Instead I’ll do a recap of what I thought of the dishes I tried when she sends me press info/high-res photos.  I will say for now that I was surprised and impressed.  It felt very strange to not be photographing though!

I brought my friend Kim with me and we ate ’til we were stuffed and a had a lot of fun.  It was nice getting to meet some of the other local bloggers.

I came home from the event planning on working but instead I’m hurrying to bed.  Adam baked up a ton of food to pack for his lunches this week (eggplant, zucchini, tomatillos, mushrooms, rice, and a bunch of seasonings and sauces) and the apartment is permeated with a smell that’s making me ill.  It actually smells delicious, but the sensory overload has given me nausea and a headache.  Tomorrow will be insanely busy but hopefully oder-free!

After Lunch Mints

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It’s Friday!  My sleep total for the last 2 days is still only at about 8 hours but somehow I managed to make it to the gym this morning.  I didn’t get up quite on time, but I made it. I did have to cut my workout a bit short to make it back to campus on time for class, but I figured it was better than skipping it entirely (<– what would have happened if I had tried to wait and go after class).

8 sets of 3 minutes running / 2 minutes walking.  42 minutes and 3.5 miles with cool down.

I had to skip breakfast too, but it was worth it.  Besides, I was busy doing important things like shrouding myself in pinks and purples instead of drying my hair.

When I did finally get “breakfast” at noon I stuck with the color theme.

Those two chopped plucots are perched on a bowl of Wegman’s Low-fat Honey Yogurt.

The gratuitous dog picture means I approve!  The yogurt’s texture was creamy and good and the flavor was pure honey.

The bowl was delicious.

Lunch was better though.  I bet you know what I had.

2 Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes.

Ah-mazing.  I hope with all of my heart that y’all will try that recipe at home.

I also had a salad.  Romaine topped with peanut sauce, green onions, shredded carrots, and dry roasted peanuts.

The green onions were a fun addition.

Dessert happened too.

This recipe wasn’t on my baking roster, but it was a necessary last-minute addition.  My friend Kim unwrapped a piece of gum in class today and at first I thought the wrapper was an Andes Mint.  That was it.

I made a half recipe of our favorite brownies with Andes mints layered in the middle.  I had three smallish ones.

Amazing as well.

And I wasn’t done in the kitchen yet.  I’m going to be out of the house all day tomorrow so I whipped up lunch in advance.

A random mishmash of unmeasured amounts of – spaghetti, linguine, shredded chicken, skim milk, medium buffalo sauce, reduced fat cream cheese, mozzarella, cheddar, blue cheese, spinach, brocoli, and peas.  I had a few bites and it was very good; I’m looking forward to lunch tomorrow.

I’m also looking forward to bed!  I’m still not really tired, but I can tell that sleep is going to feel good.  The plan for dinner is a frozen meal and a beer and then I hope to turn in early.

Pick your poison – Junior Mints, York Patties, or Andes?

What Do Vegan Zombies Eat?

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Graaaaaaaaaaaaains!

<– I heard that joke at Jekyll and Hyde when Adam and I went there our first year in NYC.  The food wasn’t very good and the drinks were overpriced, but that joke has stuck in my repertoire.

After a week of eating takeout (crap) I am more than ready to get back to healthier living.  I’ve got my kitchen mojo back and was ready to bang out two healthy home-cooked meals today.

Lunch was an old recipe that got some needed updates.

Berry Better Than Spaghetti, serves 5

  • 1 cup hard red winter wheat berries
  • 2 tsp evoo
  • 2 heaping cups frozen turnip greens
  • half a large red onion, roughly chopped
  • 14 oz package ground beef style veggie protein
  • 24 oz jar marinara sauce
  1. In a covered pot, soak the wheat berries overnight in 4 cups of cold water.
  2. Place the pot over high heat and set a timer for 50 minutes.  When the wheat berries have come to a boil reduce the heat and simmer for the remaining time.  After 50 minutes, remove from heat and drain any remaining water.
  3. While the wheat berries are cooking, heat 1 tsp evoo in a large pan over medium-high heat.
  4. Place turnip greens in pan and cook 2 minutes, stirring regularly.  Season with salt and pepper.
  5. Add remaining tsp evoo and onions to pan and cook 2 minutes.
  6. Add veggie protein to pan and cook 4 minutes, using the side of your spatula to break up the “meat” into smaller pieces.
  7. Reduce heat to low, and add cooked wheat berries and marinara sauce to pan for a final 3 minutes.

The amalgam of textures and flavors was just perfect, wheat berries give great chew.

And this dish freezes well so I’ve got two servings in the freezer for the next week when we don’t feel like cooking.

I walked to school this afternoon and slowly sipped a soda through my two-hour class.  It’s been 12 hours and I’m still overjoyed about not having to wear my retainers during the day.

After class I stayed at school to work on a group project with my friend Kim.  Among other things, we made this –

We’re doing a nutrition lesson at a pre-school in a few weeks and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.

When I got home I had a dapple plucot.

And a toasted bagel with strawberry jam and SmartBalance Light.

I made it to-go because I multitasked and ate while I walked the dog.

Dinner was similar to lunch – grain, veg, sauce – but fabulous in its own way.

Tempeh Brown Rice Casserole, serves 4

  • 1 cup (raw) brown rice, prepared according to package directions
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1.5 heaping cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
  • 12 oz tempeh, chopped
  • 3/4 cup nayonaise
  • 1 cup green salsa
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.
  2. Heat a dry skillet over medium-high heat.  Place nuts in skillet with a pinch of salt.  Cook 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly.  When the nuts are just starting to smell toasty they’re done.
  3. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir to incorporate.  Pour into a greased 8×8 casserole dish.
  4. Bake for 20 minutes.

Plus a side of roasted zucchini.

This green meal was also great.

My plans for the rest of the evening include a trip to the gym; no ifs, ands, or buts!

Off the top of your head – grain + veg + sauce; what would you combine?

See If They’ve Got Any Chocolate Bananas, Foster

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Did everyone have a fun Friday?  I slept through most of mine, hence the Saturday recap post.

I woke up a little bit late(r than desired) yesterday so I headed to straight to the gym.  CT10k 1.3 called for 10 sets of 2 minutes running, 3 minutes walking.  50 minutes and 3.9 miles.  My workout was great, but I cut the time a little too close.  I had to literally jog – ugg boots, purse, push-up bra and all – part of the way back to school to make it to class on time!

I’m glad I made it, we had a great guest lecturer; a local RD who is certified as a Diabetes Educator.  Once you’ve been an RD for couple of years there are all sorts of specialty certifications you can pursue.  I think one in weight loss counseling could be fun.

When the guest lecturer was gone, I managed to eat breakfast during some student presentations.  Leftovers for the win.

The Seven Layer Casserole just gets better and better!  I also had a Goya Soursop Nectar.

Soursop (aka guanabana) is my favorite fruit; it is too exciting that my Wegman’s recently expanded its Goya line.  A guy friend in class joked that I’ve been a Goya groupie lately, (this was only my 2nd item but I think they are memorable because they’re a little outside the norm for class snacking) but it’s the closest thing to what I grew up with.

I stayed at school for a bit to work after class to work in the Dietetics computer lab.  I have to complete a three-day diet analysis as part of my portfolio and I needed to use a program that is only available on the computers at school.  I think maybe my eats during Vegan Month are a little too obscure for the program though; I had to make my best guesses at product substitutes and the program told me that my average intake for the last three days was 978 kcal/day.  I don’t think so!

For lunch, I opened up this So Delicious Greek Style Plain Yogurt.

No.  Just no.  I knew it was a gamble when I bought it but I took the risk because I’ve adored everything else I’ve tried from So Delicious.  Sadly the yogurt was exactly as I’d feared – straight up chemical.  The texture wasn’t terrible but the taste was like licking a counter in chem lab.

Instead I ate the two plucots that were supposed to top my yogurt out of hand.

I almost shed a tear of happiness at the taste of these.  They were still a little bit too sour, but that means that plucot season is right around the corner.

For the rest of lunch I paced frantically waited patiently for my oven timer to ring.

Bananas Foster Bars!!!  If Seven Layer Casserole was #2, these bars are the #1 best thing from last year’s Vegan Month.  I ate three.

I’m not gonna lie and say that my stomach didn’t hurt, but I’m also not gonna lie and say it wasn’t totally worth it.

But since I ate ~700 calories worth of cookies I did keep dinner on the lighter side.  Or I was going to anyway.  The plan was soup, but apparently my hour-long nap – at noon, on the floor – wasn’t doing it because I fell into bed at 8:30 last night!  Yay catch-up sleep.

This morning Adam and I headed straight out on errands.  Probably not my best idea to skip breakfast when I slept through dinner, but I was a woman on a mission.  I got so hungry that I convinced myself that spending $3 on a Synergy Grape Chia Kombucha wasn’t a waste of money.

But it really wasn’t a waste of money because it was delicious!  I loved chewing through it and the flavor reminded me of a grape Laffy Taffy.  Adam and I shared it and even he was a fan by the end.

Our other share wasn’t quite as healthy.

Five Guys fries make my soul sing.  Seriously.  I’ve made a bigger effort this past week to eat less crap, but we’re doing a different challenge in March that necessitates shoveling in FGF now.

Lunch was healthy and tasty.

I love storing leftovers in tupperware because when you are combining you can shake things together to get a really good mix.  This time I shook barley, roasted broccoli, roasted butternut squash, and Wegman’s Thai Peanut Sauce.  Topped with a few cocktail peanuts.

Delicious.  We’ve been trying new things from the Co-op’s bulk bins lately and it’s been fun branching out.

I made myself a really delicious dinner.

But I only got to eat two bites.  All of the sudden, Webster – in the worst show of behavior I’ve ever seen from him – shoved his entire face into my bowl!  Hello, mess; goodbye, dinner.

[Updated Sunday Morning To Add]

The boys came over to play poker, he got even more crazy, and I got so irritated I ended up just going to bed.  So now I need to find a nice big breakfast.

Stupid dog.

Question of the day, from my post title – Name that movie!