Tag Archives: plum

Shrimptastic

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I can’t even tell you how freaking good it feels to be back to blogging.  I know I don’t always blog everything (though if I blog for a day than I include everything that goes in my mouth) but going extended periods without posting just feels strange!

I’ve got a busy week ahead – 3 tests and 2 projects by Friday – so I set my alarm for 8am to get working.  I got a little distracted by house organizing and puppy training but I got a good bit of work done too.  I was extra fueled by coffee.

Into my big mug (thanks Janetha!) went 2.5 cups of coffee, 2 Tbsp English Toffee syrup, and a big pour (~3/4 cup?) of Silk Plain Almond Milk.

Hello, dog.

I went unorthodox for breakfast because I found the last serving of bacon, corn, and shrimp chowder lurking in the back of the fridge.

Food safety regulations would have called for tossing this but it tasted great and I feel fine.

Around 12:30 I headed over to Delaware Park for a run.  Running at high-noon wasn’t my best idea but this ended up being a terrible workout in general.

  • ran 1.75 mile lap in 19:30
  • paused break for peeing and stretching (I drank a big cup of water with my big cup of coffee; slosh city)
  • “ran” 1.75 mile lap in 24:30
  • walked 1.75 mile lap in 43:30

That’s 3.5 miles in 44 minutes plus 1.75 miles more walked.  This run was pretty much a shitshow.  9 minutes into my second lap my feet went completely numb and I had to walk to avoid twisting my ankle.  Adam had tightly tied my shoes for me but loosening them didn’t help and I wasn’t off pins and needles until I actually took my shoes off.  I wanted to finish my last walking lap because I had my notecards with me to review so I ended up doing 1.75 miles barefoot.  It seemed like a good idea at the time but my gigantic, excruciating blisters indicate that it was actually a terrible idea.  Ouch!

I was at least cheered up by my shower thanks to this lavender soap my mom sent me –

When I was a kid my mother loved lilac (which smells like cat pee, by the way) but my dad and I couldn’t get it together so we’d always buy her tons of lavender-scented goodies.  I teased her for years about being an old lady but in the last year or so I’ve become completely obsessed with all things lavender.  Guess I’m the old lady.

Adam offered to help me hobble through the grocery store so I did a quick-lunch out of hand.  A black plum,

and a Sweet Tango apple.

Holy crisp and juicy, Batman!  I was so thrilled to loudly munch through a fresh apple; Sweet Tangos are divine.

We did Wegmans and the co-op and when I got home I hungrily dug into this container of Dr. McDougall’s Spicy Kung Pow Noodles.

Pretty darn good.  The was a nice amount of spice to these and it felt like a ton of food for 220 calories.

Dinner involved more shrimp and tasted better than it looked.

On the left is a small serving of Cooking Light‘s Bombay Shrimp Curry.  My changes to the recipe included using ground mustard instead of mustard seed, skipping the cilantro, and using a veggie mix with peas, corn, carrots, lima beans, and green beans.  I also skipped the rice because I had just eaten pasta.

Unfortunately, we hated it.  Adam and I both could barely choke this down.  The flavor was strangely flat and it was spicy in an unpleasant way.  Do not recommend.

I know the stuff on the right looks bad, but I promise it tasted sooooo good.

Cheesy baked eggplant!  Using this Italian eggplant I picked up at the farmers’ market last week.

For two – into my mini casserole dish went a thin layer of marinara, a layer of thinly sliced eggplant, a sprinkle of salt, a thick layer of marinara, and 2 slices of 2% provolone cheese.  Baked at 450* for 45minutes.

Gah; this was unbelievable!  The eggplant got soft enough to cut with a fork and baking the cheese intensified its flavor x100.  We are going to make this again as a main meal very soon.

For dessert I used Mixchief Jell-O Mix to make Cherry Coke Jell-O.

How fun!  It wasn’t as strong as I would have liked but I would try it again and substitute more cola for water next time.

That bowl had 2 servings but I only ate one.  To be honest I’m feeling pretty unsatisfied; I think I will most likely end up adding enough dessert to this day while I study.  I’ll update later if I do.

How often do you update your blog?  Does it feel strange to take breaks.

***Updated to add – I did have a 2nd (fiberific) dessert; 1/3 cup of All Bran Bran Buds with 2 tsp of crushed Heath bar.  No picture because the dog chewed through my camera cord.  <– ugh!

Anchovy Enjoyment

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Why the frick am I still awake?  My Sunday tiredness has not disapated at all, in fact it seems to be getting worse, so logging 6 hours of sleep before tomorrow is such a bad idea.  Quick post, quick post.

The dog didn’t get walked (rain), my run got skipped (duh), but I did finish all of my necessary school work (yay), and dinner did get made.

Bagna Cauda Cauliflower Pasta from last month’s Everyday with Racheal Ray.  The recipe isn’t online yet so I can’t link but here is a shot of the ingredients –

My changes were –

  • only using 2 Tbsp of evoo
  • substituting regular, white garlic
  • using 10 ounces of locally made garlic parsley tagliatelle
  • using reduced fat half and half
  • adding 1 Tbsp of all purpose flour to my sauce (I think the reduced fat .5&.5 kept it from thickening properly)

Quite good, but definitley a time consuming recipe.  I can’t believe I like anchovies?! 

I had enough time to starve while we cooked so I plated myself a gigantic serving.

I waited 30 minutes to digest my heaping bowl of pasta but when I was still hungry I made myself a yogurt dessert bowl.

A Wegman’s 0% Honey Greek Yogurt topped with a sliced black plum and 2 tsp of crumbled Heath bar.

Yum; I am so glad that plums are still in season!  Locals – this Wegman’s line of Greek was great, definitely on par with Chobani.

And zzzzzzzzZ!

Blood From A Stone

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I stayed up until past 1:30 last night!  I didn’t really get much work done but I did have fun eavesdropping on the boys’ funny poker smack talk.  I planned on staying in bed for 8 hours but the husband got up with the dog and lured me from under the covers with farmers’ market trips and coffee.

He made me a warm to-go mug with Silk Almond Milk and English Toffee Syrup.

We bought a few things at the market but we did some giving too.  Adam gives blood regularly and when he spotted the donation truck we popped in.  I’ve never been able to give blood because my veins are tiny and wimpy – the last two times I’ve had to have blood taken for blood panels I had veins in both arms popped!  One time I tried to give in college and the man meanly told me he wouldn’t be able to do it without a children’s needle and that I should work out more!  But guess what I did today –

Booyah, I’m finally a blood donor!  They had to (carefully) use a vein in a sort of odd placement – Adam said it was probably a branch of the cephalic vein – but I managed to produce a full pint!  I think being a donor is really important, I’d also like to donate marrow in the future, and I am so excited to finally join the ranks of big kids who give blood.

When we got home I made a fantabulously tasty cereal bowl.

A serving of Barbara’s Vanilla Almond Shredded Wheat topped with a sliced plum, a sliced plucot, and more almond milk.

This combination of flavors and textures may actually be my favorite thing ever; the types of sweetness play off of each other so well.

I did a tiny bit of work in the morning and then Adam and I had errands to run.  Our fridge was basically empty, which lead me to one of my more “creative” concoctions.

The last Tbsp of light sour cream with the last Tbsp of blue cheese crumbles, a few capers, and a dash of A-1 Steak Sauce.  Spread on top of a Bagel Thin.

I actually thought the end result wasn’t bad, but Adam was in love with it so I ended up sharing most of the bagel with him.

I also ate this big bunch of grapes.

And this 2 oz mix of yogurt covered raisins, peanuts, and pretzels.

I needed more of a lunch though because I thought I was going to pass out from hunger by the time we got home. Thankfully we had 7pm plans so there was an excuse to have an early bird’s 5 o’clock dinner.

I am pretty much done with Saigon Cafe because their “Thai spicy” is apparently my mild and bland, but we had a Groupon so I gave it one last shot.  Crisp tofu to start.

Deep fried tofu with peanut sauce, it’s hard to go wrong.

I ate four pieces of tofu with sauce.

For my meal I ordered the tofu tamarind, Thai spicy, with extra veggies.

What exactly would this dish have looked like without the extra veggies?!?

And, I’m done. Saigon Cafe does ok noodles dishes but their meals are always disappointing. I ate about half of my dish with two bites of rice and two stolen bites of Adam’s Pad Thai.

It was a double Groupon night and our main activity was Art By You.

They provide the materials and a quick lesson and you provide the talent, or not.

I went from this,

to this,

to this.

Let’s just say I’m artistically challenged! I had a great time though!

Adam thought it was fun too, and it was great to do something artsy with him.

We weren’t ready for the fun to end so now we’re cuddling on the couch and watching “That ’70’s Show.”  I’ve been hungry all day so I did dinner take 2 from Moe’s.

That’s a kid’s quesadilla with corn salsa, plus chips with queso dip.  I also snagged most of the husband’s chips too.

I’d like to say that I’m done but Adam put a frozen pizza in the oven and I’m pretty sure I’ll end up having some.  I’m putting away the camera for now though.  I’ll end with my favorite shot of the day.  Whenever we leave him alone too long Webster gets into our reusable bags like an asshole.  When we got home this evening he was stuck in one of them and wearing it like a cape.

I thought Adam and I were going to die laughing!

Have you ever donated blood?

Spiders and Schweddy Balls

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Success!  I started my day with success.  In spite of not getting to bed quite on time last night I successfully managed my first morning workout today!  I was worried things were getting off track when the world’s largest spider was on my car door (seriously) but I kept it together.  Sure killing the spider calling Adam and crying did eat into my time a bit, but I still got in a good workout.

35 minutes on the elliptical; random level 6.  Followed by a super quick strength/stretch session.  <– what that means to me, by the way, is generally 50 crunches, 40 other abs moves, 3 sets of toe touching, and a 1-minute plank ending with a downward dog.

I left the gym at 6:57 and had time to drive home, shower/dress, get my stuff together, drive back to school, park, and walk to class for 8 am.  The gym opens at 6am so if the spiders leave me alone I can get in a decent workout most mornings.

This morning, “get my stuff together” included making a giant iced coffee.

4 cups of cold coffee, 2 Tbsp English Toffee Syrup, and a big splash of Silk Plain Almond Milk. 

The almond milk takes coffee to whole new level; it is sooo thick!  (twss)

I also packed myself some plums to munch on during my 4-hour class.

1 black plum and 1 dapple plucot; sliced for easy mid-class eating.

My breakfast held me over until noon, especially because I find coffee to be very filling, but I did make lunch a three-parter when I got home.

Course 1 was chicken salad.

I tossed together shredded chicken, a few grapes, and 2 Tbsp 0% Plain Fage, 1 Tbsp sour cream, and 1.5 Tbsp pickle relish.

I don’t mind mayo but it’s fun to branch out; the greek yogurt sour cream combo did a great job as a binder.

I also ate a serving of these chips but my camera was dead so no picture.

Course 2 was a green apple with peanut butter.

That unappetizing looking stuff is actually Peanut Butter Company’s Dark Chocolate Dreams.

I used to love PB&Co when I lived in the city and I was super excited to find a 170-calorie pack in my book store.

And the awesome looking plate actually came home from my grandma’s house last weekend.

My great-great-grandmother painted these by hand!

My peanut butter sparked my sweet tooth because my final course was dessert.

I made myself a small serving of Ben and Jerry’s Schweddy Balls ice cream with 2 tsp of Heath crumbles on top.

I would probably like this ice cream even if it tasted like cardboard because the reference to one of SNL’s best skits is just too good!  Thankfully it’s also delicious; the rum flavor is nice and mellow and the malt balls are still crunchy.

What’s your all-time favorite SNL sketch?  I think mine might be Baldwin’s other win, “Canteen Boy.”

English Toffee and Cream Soda

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I drove to campus this morning which was exciting because it meant that my iced coffee was actually still iced when I reached class.

Adam brewed me coffee last night and I stashed it in the fridge in a glass jar; all I’ll have to do in the mornings is add ice and skim milk.  This cup was extra exciting because I also added 1 Tbsp of English Toffee syrup.

I’m going to go ahead and deem this best purchase ever.  I don’t drink coffee all that regularly but whenever I’m in the mood I’m tempted to purchase it out because it seems more exciting.  Now that I’ve got my favorite flavor of syrup at home I can stick to only “buying” coffee from home.  <– minus the obligatory seasonal stops at Starbucks for pumpkin spice and gingerbread, of course!

I ate my breakfast during my first class.  My final new class by the way, it’s Medical Terminology and I’m pretty jazzed about it.  I think everything dealing with Greek and Latin roots is fun.

An Orange Creamy Crawler Lifeway Probugs Organic Kefir.

Mmmmmn!  I bought these before when I was living in the city but it took me a while to find them in Buffalo.  This flavor was creamy and almost fizzy; it tasted like an orange cream soda!

I also tried the lemon meringue crunch Balance Bar.  Whenever I rave over the cookie dough BB people always recommend this flavor so I wanted to try it out.

Good, but sorry, not even close to cookie dough.

My second (and last) class on Fridays is a food lab which means Friday’s lunch will often be supplemented by class assignments, weee.  We let out early today which means I had time to do some work in the computer lab and go to the post office before I had to go home and get Webster.

He is such a good walker!  If he would just stop ripping up the pee pads we’d be in business.  The two of us made a .66 mile loop around Elmwood.  I’m not sure I’ll take him on many more mid-day walks, he was hot, hot, hot.  I walked barefoot for a bit to make sure his feet were ok but when I picked him up to carry the last few blocks he was like a little oven!

Midday walks aren’t great for me either because they mean I have to wait for lunch.

Since it was 2pm and I was starving I tried out the new Asian Entrée line from Dr. McDougall that I bought on sale at Wegmans last night.

I loved that the container only had one serving size because similar products have two 500 calorie servings stuffed inside and it drives me crazy (and this was a ton of noodles for 200 calories).

I also loved that I could recognize every last ingredient.

But it didn’t taste like Pad Thai.

The dish wasn’t bad (6.5/10) but it wasn’t quite the flavor I was hoping for.

I also had baby carrots on the side,

and a sliced yellow plucot.

The noodles may not have been Pad Thai but the plucot was exactly the flavor I was looking for.  If you haven’t tried a plucot (or pluot) yet this summer be sure to get your hands on one.

I’m hoping to make it to the gym this afternoon but I’ve got some studying to do first that takes priority.  Hopefully I won’t take a cue from Webster and I’ll be able to keep my eyes open!

Two Things

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My alarm went off and 5:50 this morning and … I got up!  This morning was a little easier because of two things –

  1. The husband was already out of bed.
  2. I knew I didn’t have to go to the gym, I could eat breakfast and read blogs instead!

Of course, with Webster around I didn’t get to do much any blog reading but I did get to eat breakfast.

A yogurt bowl.

I’m still not really hungry this early in the day so I kept my yogurt bowl small.  A half serving of 0% Fage with a drizzle of maple syrup, a chopped yellow plucot, and a half serving of Bear Naked granola.

Plus some red velvet tea with skim milk.

I’m not sure about this flavor yet (I love the color!) but I’d like to try it with a little sweetened non-dairy milk.

Have a great day! P.S. I have a fun post series coming up; look for it around noon.

Fit For A Dog

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Going back a few hours…  We did go get Webster that toy.

Actually we got him a few, but we started with Mouse who he loves.

Dinner wasn’t quite as easy.  Adam and I had things to do and it got later and later until suddenly it was just late.  We set out in search of sustenance but got sidetracked at Blue Monk, where one of our good friend bartends.  She was in, and she was on break, and they did have Brooklyn Brewery’s Concoction on draft, and we could get it for free….

And before you knew it, it was really late and dinner was bought at Jim’s Steak Out at 1 am.

That plate was a 6inch buffalo chicken sub with a side of fries.  Exactly the kind of food you should just go to bed without eating and exactly the kind of food that is perfect for 1 am dinners.

I tried to stay in bed as late as I could this morning, but that basically meant getting up to do something for Webster every 10 minutes from 7 – 9. 

That’s his ears-back look.  When I did get up, I made myself some Lean Cuisine Thai-Style Chicken Spring Rolls.

They were good, but not life changing obviously.  I liked the chew and the veggies but I needed a lot more spice.

I ate the entire box (2 servings) for 400 calories, which – with the addition of roasted green beans – made for a perfect brunch.

I also had a yellow plucot, I think it was called a dapple, for dessert.

This was my first time trying the yellow variety but I loved it.  I couldn’t taste the difference between this and other plucots, but it was sweeter than regular plums are.  I’ve got to cop to the fact that I let Webster eat a few bites of plucot while I was still eating it; apparently I’m that dog owner.  But you know what, dogs’ mouths are only disgusting because they eat their own poop and we don’t let him do that!

The Elmwood Art Festival is happening today but Adam’s at the hospital all day so I’m going to wait it out until tomorrow.  I do have plans for a long walk with a friend this afternoon though.

What’s your stance on dog mouths?  Share some food, lick your face, or stay the hell away?

Plums and Cream

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last night

No post last night because no dinner.  Adam got home way later than we expected and I didn’t have the will or the ambition to chop kale at 8pm.  I love to prepare nice meals for him when he’s home to eat them hot (and to help with the prep!) but I’m not sure how that will go as his schedule becomes more like a doctor’s.  I always though I was the type to prepare a nice meal no matter what, but now I think my single girl dinners would probably have been cereal!

Do you cook differently for your significant other than you would when on your lonesome?

breakfast

Since I went to bed without an evening meal I needed a nice breakfast to pick up the slack.

Done and done.  This oatmeal bowl rocked my world.

Usually I’m not as oattastic as other healthy living bloggers (especially in the summer months) but I picked up some gorgeous red plums at Wegmans the other day and I knew this meal needed to be made.

A base of Oat Revolution cinnamon roll instant oatmeal with skim milk, topped with sugar plums.

Can I be honest?  I don’t actually know what a sugar plum is.  But what I did was saute two chopped red plums in a smidge of butter, tossing in 2 tsp of brown sugar towards the end.  I don’t know if this is the traditional method, but it was a successful one.  My plums had a sweet yet toasty flavor and they were melty.

My lack of dinner was totally forgotten.

Can I be honest about something else?  Sometimes I hate the dog.

I know he’s just being a puppy right now, but he’s driving me crazy.  Sometimes I pick him up in a hug and then I say in my sweetest voice “you were on sale and no one else will ever love you.”

I’m afraid that may be telling of my future parenting style.