Ch. 6 Was Actually About Protein

I hope everyone is having a good week!  Panic is sort of an understatement for my current mindframe.  My stomach starts to hurt whenever I think about how much schoolwork there is to be done.  Between this morning and Thursday afternoon I need to read and take notes on 7 chapters, watch 7 online lecture videos, and complete 9 different assignments.  Oh yeah, and right now I’ve completed 1/7, 1/7, and 1/9; yikes!

I’ll get it all done in time, but I’m definitely not too happy.  The biggest problem is that it takes me so long to get started in the morning.  Thank goodness I ate a great breakfast to fuel me once I did start!

Just yum!  This bowl was a big mix of Siggis blueberry yogurt, strawberry sauce, blueberries, a sliced red plum, and a spoon of clover honey.

Who doesn’t love a breakfast that’s a beauty even after she’s all mixed up?

This bowl was super filling too; I didn’t eat lunch until after 2pm.

Lunch was a beauty all on its own.

I needed staying power like breakfast so I made a Protein Packed Peas and Peanuts Pasta Bowl

  1. In a skillet over medium-high heat, pan-steam 1cup frozen peas in a splash of vegetable stock.
  2. Remove the peas to a separate plate and lower heat to medium.  Swirl 1tsp evoo in the pan and add 1cup precooked macaroni noodles, season with salt.  Cook the pasta, stirring occasionally, until browned and crusty.
  3. Meanwhile make your sauce.  Whisk together 1Tbsp peanut butter, 1/2Tbsp tamari sauce, 2T rice vinegar, and 1tsp sugar.  Tip # 1 – microwaving your pb for 30seconds can make it easier to stir.  Tip # 2 – use the bowl you plan on eating out of so you don’t waste any sauce that sticks to the sides.
  4. Return peas to pan with pasta, pour in sauce, toss to combine.  Cook 2-4more minutes, stirring occasionally.
  5. Break 1egg over mix and allow to mostly set before stirring in.

This was so fricking tasty!  I lowered the peanut butter and oil amounts from my usual recipe and I really didn’t miss them.

Fun fact, the egg came from the first of my winning cartons.

I always buy Eggland’s Best eggs but now I can get the really good ones!  (i.e. organic, vegetarian fed hens, etc)

And it’s back to work for me!

Nutrition Fun Fact – Quinoa is considered a high quality protein because it is easily digestible and contains all of our essential amino acids.

Better News

Good morning, good morning, good morning!!  I am in a blissfully good mood today.  The good news from the other day can’t even touch this morning’s.

  • You know that thing I’ve been worrying about but can’t really blog about?  It’s been dealt with, finally, and I can stop freaking out.
  • THIS MORNING I DROPPED OFF OUR SECURITY DEPOSIT FOR OUR NEW APARTMENT!!!!  I didn’t want to blog about it until it was a sure thing, but in July we are going to flee this hell-hole and move into a fabulous new spot that just happens to be walking distance from my new school! 

The not so good news is that my leg (where the fracture was/is) has been hurting so I had to cancel my run.  But there’s nothing that’s going to get me down today; I threw on a 20minute playlist and did strength/stretch moves on my yoga mat.

It feels so good to get the lead out!

Breakfast didn’t get eaten until after 10:45.  I was starving and it was satisfying.

0% Oikos Greek Yogurt with a chopped plum and a drizzle of maple syrup. 

Plums are actually my very favorite Greek yogurt mix-in.

On the agenda for today?

  • a shower, duh!
  • trip to the post office
  • doctor’s appointment for a skin check
  • eat 2.5cups of veggies!

How often do you get a skin check?  Why do you (or don’t you) think it’s important?  Everyone should get a skin check yearly, but since I have a history of skin cancer in my family, and a lot of sun damage from my island childhood, I try to go every 6months.

Summer Goals

Another excited yet lame blog post from Eatventures?  Nah, you’ve got to be kidding me!  And I’m not going to lie to my readers and say “it’ll be better soon.”  Because it won’t.  I’ve got finals folks, and now it’s time for me to learn all of the material I’ve been ignoring the last month!  But I do promise to keep posting at least daily (because people would totally die without reading about my lunch?!?!), and to work on stepping it up this summer.  In fact, I’ve got all sorts of goals for this summer –

  • start running again (slowly and carefully!) once my leg fully heals
  • get into a daily exercise schedule before I start full-time school
  • post more regularly on the blog
  • purchase a domain name and go all official (fingers crossed)
  • rock out my summer school classes
  • find a new, better apartment and move into it
  • turn 25!

This morning’s goal was to tackle some issues with my financial aid.  I was trapped on the phone all morning so I ended up eating a bun spread with a little bit of Smart Balance Light.

And that candy bar was decimated.

When I was finally free I made a real breakfast.

Plain non-fat yogurt topped with honey and a sliced plum.  This guy was a little too sour but I am so excited about plum season; they are my favorite fruit yogurt topper.

Unfortunately I ate so late that I wasn’t hungry for lunch.  And even more unfortunately I failed to plan ahead.  So lunch was most of this trail mix eaten during Anthropology.

I ate ~500calories worth, so it certainly covered lunch, but not in any sort of healthy way.  Plus I ended up feeling totally ill.  Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Bellyache be damned though, I wasn’t passing up an on-campus opportunity; bubble teas are few and far between in Buffalo.

Strawberry milk tea with bobba.  It was way too sweet but I was kind of in love with it anyways.

Classes are done, whoopie!  Now I just have to huge finals before I’m through with UB.  (Dear God, that was not supposed to rhyme)

Dinner was leftovers, with a twist.

I didn’t want to use another bun so I ate my sloppy joe mix in a bowl, topped with 2% colby jack, Siracha, low fat sour cream, and the last of the homemade pineapple salsa.

This mix of flavors was so darn good!

That glass of sludge is plain non-fat Kefir with cinnamon-sugar swirled in.

I’m posting so late because Adam and I went on a Buffy binge, but also because I did some baking.

Coconut Banana Bread.  I followed this recipe but skipped the glaze.  Make this, make this, make this!  The flavor profile is spot on.  I might have had a slice or three.

Bed time?  Bed time!

What are some of your goals for this summer?

I Think I Found My Motivation

Woot! Woot!  My to-do’s finally got off-schedule for good reasons.  I’ve been so unmotivated the past week, everything feels like I’m moving in slow-motion and I got behind on my work, training schedule, life!  Now I am not only caught up, but slightly ahead 🙂  I had to push back my kitchen time but it’s a small price to pay.

After my 5hrs at the coffee shop I did 2.5more here.  I am halfway done with the online work due Monday.  While I worked I fueled up for the gym.

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Stoneyfield YoKids Lowfat Strawberry/Vanilla yogurt, sliced black plum, Justin’s Nut Butters Honey Almond Butter packet.  So satisfying.

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Around 8 Adam and I headed to the gym for some treadmill time.  My training schedule had 2miles for today and I decided to work on speed.

  • I did Mile 1 in 8minutes 11seconds
  • Mile 2 in 8minutes 35seconds
  • with warm up/between miles break/cool down I did 27minutes
  • and burned 287calories

Since cooked dinner got cooked back (but mostly because we had a coupon which is exciting to me) Adam convinced me to get Pizza Hut for dinner.  We did green peppers, green olives, and mushrooms.

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I had this x3 (that’s a small plate).

To drink/for dessert I made this hottness –

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I’ve been mulling this idea over for a week and I think it was a success: 2 So Delicious Dairy Free Mini Ice Cream Sandwiches + 5cubes ice + big splash skim milk + blending = cookies and cream inspired milkshake for ~200calories.

I’ve still got to shower (we ate slowly and watched a Bones rerun online) so I’m out for the evening, peace!

Do you ever reformat foods?  I was pretty proud of my sandwich to shake idea.

Identity Crisis

This post is having an identity crisis!  I ate                           at 10:30 last night and                             at 10:30 this morning.  What do you call those meals?  Are they still dinner and breakfast?  And a post that encapsulates both of them, mind-boggling.  unfortunately I don’t have time for semantics.

For 4th meal (I realize that 1. I did not eat 4 times yesterday and 2. I’m copping a Taco Bell term) I had some of Adam’s fancy nuggets.

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They were delish, especially when paired with homemade Russian dressing.

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I might have also eaten 1/2 of Adam’s medium fry he bought at Wendy’s when I got a fountain diet coke, whoops.

For morning meal not otherwise specified I had a sandwich wrap burrito more semantics.

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I’ve been reading about these Flat Outs on other blogs and when I got a chance to see the nutritional stats I had to try them.

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I was fairly underwhelmed.  They had a nice texture but the taste was pretty chalky, I’ll give them a try again tomorrow though.  The combo was still pretty tasty though, I used two Chicken Apple Maple Sausages and the savory sweet taste went very well with 2T of sharp cheddar. 

The tastes also went nicely with a sliced black plum.

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I ate while I studied, and frankly I should still be studying!

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I’ve got to skedaddle because I have beyond tons of schoolwork to do today (apparently doing nothing all week was a bad idea?).  Hopefully I can fit some fun in too.  Enjoy the end of your weekend!

Have you tried Flat Outs?  What did you think?

Rocked It

Ahh, accomplishment, finally!  I didn’t get to bed all that early yesterday (I’m not saying anyone was drunk, cough, but Adam sure took a long time to get out of my way in the shower, cough cough) and I kept waking up all night, and then I hit snooze too many times this morning, but at 9am I did manage to actually start my day. 

I literally had not been to the gym in a week so that was clearly in order.  I prehydrated while I charged my i-pod and drank this Rockstar Juiced.

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This flavor was nowhere near as good as the purple cans but it still made me pretty happy.

All I can say about the gym is – woot!  I don’t know if it was the awesome playlist, the energy drink, or the fact that since I haven’t worked out all week I have to squoosh to make my training plan but I rocked it out.  I did the treadmill, mostly running but with a warm up/cool down and a little Galloway Method towards the end.  45minutes / 4.4miles / 530calories.

After a shower it was time for breakfast.

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Nonfat Strawberry Yogurt, plucot, nectarine, 3/4 Cherry Pie Lara Bar.  How gorgeous is this bowl?

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While I ate I organized coupons, recipes, and our schedules to come up with a weekly meal plan and shopping list.

Here is what’s on the agenda for today –

  • grocery trip for regular restocking and fun (Within reason, I’m purchasing every product I’ve been eyeing in the organics section of the store.  I’ve been promising myself this ever since I knew I was getting my bonus check this year and I am very excited)
  • recycling
  • mild housecleaning
  • 2loads of laundry
  • schoolwork
  • fun foodie event this evening!

What is one of your favorite gym songs?

No Labor Day

Arrgh, I feel like a zombie!  I didn’t even get to go to volunteering today 😦  I didn’t get in bed on time, which is my fault, but I also realized last night that our pillows are partially contributing to the laying awake for hours issue.  I looked at the clock at 4:56 last night and was still awake!  Needless to say, I didn’t get up to study, but when I did get up for volunteering I had such a bad migraine that I called in and went back to bed.  I feel really guilty not going in, but I would have been pretty useless.

Once I did get up, breakfast was an adventure.  I wanted to use this awesome looking egg-cooker my grandmother got me for my wedding shower.

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The plan was poached eggs.  The name of the product is “Henrietta Hen,” but 4 eggs in the trash later I was referring to Henrietta as more of a female dog than a bird!

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I think the cooker will work great for hard/soft boiled eggs, but poached will have to be gotten from restaurants.  My last ditch, 3rd effort at lunch ended up pretty big.

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Tuna salad sandwich on a hamburger bun,

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with the leftover salad in the bowl it was mixed in.  I used –

  • 1can tuna, rinsed and drained
  • 1.5T Miracle Whip
  • 2T + pickle relish
  • 1 chopped celery stalk
  • healthy shake paprika

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I also had a bowl of chopped pineapple and plumcot (a plum/apricot hybrid that rocked my socks).

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Adam and I have been cuddling and watching Bones and I ate two sugar cookies.

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MK sent these home with us from the bbq and they are pretty good, very soft (it’s possible that in between round 1 and 2 of the egg making I snatched one of these without photographing!).

Once Adam and I get sick of each other (just kidding!) I’m going to do some school work.  See you for dinner.

Did you get the day off for Labor Day?  Have any big plans?

Balls, of Meat

Extra to-do’s are done, dinner was made from scratch, it’s been a good day!  This morning was not much of a success.  I wanted to do chemistry review – one last ditch effort before class starts on Monday – so I rode to school with Adam to study at the South Campus library.  We got to school before it opened so I hung around the med school lobby and ate my snack.

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My baggie was about 2servings and very tasty.

Once the library did open at 8 I put in a valiant two hours of day-dreaming before I accepted that I was too cold and hungry to focus.  I trekked in search of a cafeteria, success.

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My egg/cheese bagel and coffee were just what I needed.  I studied in the cafeteria until I was halfway through with my coffee.  I should mention, the coffee machine was one of those push button thingies, and I ended up with English Toffee Cappuccino.  It was very syrupy and halfway through I basically had diabetes.

I trekked again, bought a diet soda to clear my head (don’t judge me!) and went back to the libary for some actual  studyingcompletely worthless blog reading. 

It wasn’t until 12:30 that I finally had some success!  I went for coffee with a blog reader/R.D student at UB (hi, Katie!).  I got to ask questions about the program and catch up on blog gossip, it was great.  We ended up sitting at Starbucks for hours!  While we were there I had a more successful snack.

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Unsweetened iced coffee with skim milk and a KIND bar.

I didn’t get home until after 5, and then Adam and I headed out on errands.  We spent forever at Target.  Among other things, I replaced my devious Sigg,

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and we bought a new blender, woo!

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Before we could head home we had to hit up a wine store too.

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We are having a small get-together tomorrow, the theme of which is wine and cheese.

Somehow at 9pm I managed to force myself to cook dinner.  While I worked I ate two farmers’ market plums for energy.

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We made Giada De Laurentiis’ meatballs, from her Everyday Italian cookbook.  I only had a small serving,

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but it was frickin delicious!  Hands-down the best turkey meatballs I’ve ever had, I’m sorry I can’t post the recipe.

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Dinner was great, and “My So-Called Life” was even better 🙂  We will be very busy tomorrow (in addition to our get-together set up we have to get our car registered) so I probably won’t be posting again until the evening.  See you then!

What is your favorite ground meat, for balls form?  My favorite is extra-lean turkey.