Tag Archives: potato

Let Apple Month Begin!

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When I go more than a day without blogging I do really miss it.  It’s clearly going to be an adjustment a year from now when I have a baby (hopefully) and a job (even more hopefully).

It’s felt like a long week (already!) and I only had time to pack one meal this morning so I went with breakfast.

A 1.5% Pineapple Oikos,

and a granola bar.

Today’s classes went well and I had time to run a few on-campus errands before work.  The mini grill from my confession post was part of a project I completed last night.  One of our clinical community assignments was to create an educational bulletin board on a nutrition topic.  I went with healthy grilling.

I had a friend snap a picture of me with it for my portfolio.

This assignment felt stressful because there is so much going on this month, but it was actually kind of nice to revisit my teacher days.

My options were limited and “lunch” ended up being this bag of Smart Fries.

They were fairly similar to packing peanuts but somehow that wasn’t a bad thing.  The flavor was mild but savory and a 1 oz serving (110 calories) included 60-something pieces.

I came home from work to a package from my mom celebrating the arrival of Apple Month.

Too funny that this box came on the same day that I had already blogged about being ready for apple goodies.  I took a few tastes as a snack.

Plus a few bites of Adam’s (not so good) mango.

I was glad that I didn’t snack too much because dinner ended up being a work of art.

Taste-wise it was art, that is, I know that the pictures are fairly dark and unappetizing.

(Ingredients that follow are listed for both Adam’s and my servings together.)

A bag of fresh baby spinach was steam-sautéed in evoo and chicken broth, then tossed with a big handful each blue cheese crumbles and dried cherries.

An amazing smokey fish salad.

A 6.7 oz can of Trader Joe’s Smoked Herring was mashed with lemon juice, Miracle Whip, smoked paprika, 1/2 cup shredded carrot, and 1 shredded green bell pepper.

We used the small holes on our cheese grater to shred the veggies and they ended up being an amazing addition.

A 1/2 serving of Special K crackers for dipping.

Delicious, delicious, delicious!

Have you ever had to make a bulletin board display?

The Last Three Days I’ve Been…

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…all over the place!  Figuratively speaking.  I don’t know where my head is but my meals have been less than impressive; lots of junk food, not a lot of veggies, and I keep forgetting to eat breakfast.  Adam was preparing for an important exam and between that, getting used to working, and obsessing over some new books, I’ve felt a little crazy.  It is what it is.

Friday

This was a no breakfast day.  And I didn’t manage to pack lunch before work either.  I ended up grabbing a mix of co-op salad bar.

Cucumber salad, farro salad, vegan pasta salad, and a few dolmas.

Plus a Sweet Leaf Sweet Tea.

When I got home I had chip and dip leftovers.

Plain low-fat yogurt with banana slices and a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk.

And a giant bowl of frosted flakes with skim milk.

I guess I didn’t have it together for dinner either.

Saturday

I ate breakfast!  Cottage cheese stirred into a Liberte Coconut Yogurt.

But I packed the stupidest lunch of all time.

A Plum Kids Strawberry Lemonade Yogurt Mashup,

and a Fiber One cookie.

Supplemented with an iced Earl Grey with skim milk.

And the last of my chips and dip when I got home.

Saturday morning Adam took the biggest, 8+ hour, most important exam he’ll take in his entire life (seriously, he’s done nothing but study the past month) so we went out for a celebratory dinner with another couple that night.

I made a small plate from the communal cheese board.

And drank a (giant?!) glass of riesling.

For dinner I ordered the pesto spatzle.

I loved the idea of the innovative pesto (romaine! pistachio! mint!) but sadly didn’t enjoy the execution.  You know that I can throw down with some heavy food but this dish was missing some desperately needed acid to cut through the richness.  I ate a few bites and figured that my chip appetizer would keep me from starving 😉

Sunday

I started my morning with Harvest Bay Coconut Water,

and chicken salad.

Plus a shake shared with the husband.

(Thank you birthday freebie coupons!)

Mid-day I headed to yoga.  60 minute hot yoga class.  Love love loved it.  This was definitely the high point of the last few days.

Then we had more ice cream; I can’t resist the allure of birthday freebies.

That’s a kid’s size vanilla frozen yogurt with reeses pb cup and cookie dough.

Veggies, chicken, and macaroni were consumed on a shopping trip.

Plus a mug of cocoa at home.

It was delicious but unnecessary.  As I wrote up this recap I was fairly disgusted by the amount of sugar (and chips!) I ate over the past three days.

Around 7:00 we hunkered down in the kitchen for a mega cooking session.  Three dishes were on the agenda – tonight’s dinner, tomorrow’s dinner, and tuna casserole to freeze for Adam for the week I’m in Ohio.  Two out of three worked out.  After spending a lot of time making Janetha’s cauliflower crust pizza I covered it in marinara that turned out to be covered in mold.

Uggggh!  Adam threw out our dinner and I threw a fit on the floor.  I took a giant bite of marinara sauce before I spotted the mold so a lot of histrionic gagging went down.

Then a bunch of other shit happened and many hours later I ate nachos for dinner.

The end.

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!).

The Last Three Days

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The last three days have been great. Summer school is over! I’m a senior! (again!) We went to Ohio! Yep, I wasn’t blogging because the summer of weekend fun has officially begun. Let’s back up to Friday morning first.

I stayed up late on Thursday (Adam was studying and I was doing nothing) so waking up was rough. Somehow I did manage to get out of bed and make it to the gym. And then I did strength training! I walked on the treadmill for 7 minutes to warm up and then spent 30 minutes rotating though a cycle of strength machines plus stretch moves on the mat.

Since I actually did weights work it seemed like the perfect time for the Honey Core Power protein drink I bought on sale.

It was fine, not great, but 26 grams of protein in a few minutes is nothing to sneeze at.

To celebrate our last day, our teacher brought in garden chili.

I had a bowl topped with cheddar,

and another glass of lemon sweet tea.

When the day was over a few friends and I celebrated on our own. First we grabbed the dog,

and then we walked to Dolci,

for bourbon cinnamon gelato.

Eeeeee, this tasted so good! The cinnamon was pretty subdued and it had the best texture, almost airy.

Then Adam and I were in the car for weekend #1 of summer fun.

I packed us leftovers for dinner.

Buffalo Chicken Baked Pasta.

We both agreed that this dish is one of best things I make.

Saturday morning I managed to sleep until 11:30 …on the living room floor …while people screamed at the top of their lungs playing Battleship! Tired much?

For lunch I did my best to pick and choose a meal from McDonald’s.

Two packs of apple slices,

and a fruit and yogurt parfait.

Plus a (mini) S’more Monster Cookie for dessert.

I thing I like these cookies even better when they are regular sized.

We spent the afternoon at our niece’s dance recital. There were kids of all ages, including a class of three-year olds twirling around in giant tutus. And now my ovaries hurt!

Dinner was re-dic-u-lous.

Salad with honey mustard dressing.

French fries. With butter for the …

Crab legs!

All you could eat. Apparently I could eat five clusters. And then I was very, very full.

Though not too full for candy at the movies a few hours later.

We saw Prometheus and I do not recommend it. The “Alien” nerds on all of the forums were right, the characters are dumb and I didn’t care what happened to them.

The parents made us all breakfast this morning before we had to hit the road. I had a glass of skim milk,

and a pancake (with butter and syrup) and fresh fruit.

The opposite of fresh, Adam and I snacked on this cookies and cream Chex Mix on the road.

I ate ~2 serving’s worth.

We had to stop at the mall on the way home to get the husband new sandals so we got froyo too.

I got a tiny bit of tart yogurt with tons of fruit and popping boba.

We we’ve been home about an hour and I’ve already eaten two of the Hawaiian rolls that Adam brought home.

Clearly it’s time to rustle up dinner!  See ya tomorrow.

Memorial Day BBQ And Tropical Fruit White Sangria

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Happy Memorial Day!

We started our day with a workout.  We also started our day late because I was up until 4 am writing my Canada recap, but that’s another story.  Once we were out of bed we did 10 sets of 1:30 running/3:30 walking.  The same route as the other day, but this time I sprinted for the last 20 – 40 seconds of each run.  My sprint is the husband’s jog, but what can you do?  50 minutes and 4.2 miles.  I covered .3 miles more than the last time I did this workout!

I didn’t have time for breakfast because I was frantically baking, but that’s not a bad problem to have.  We went to a bbq this afternoon and came bearing gifts of Tropical Fruit White Sangria and S’mores Monster Cookies.  I’m typing the cookie recipe up to post tomorrow and the sangria recipe is at the end of this post.

I will mention now that the sangria was damn delicious.

I had two big glasses over the course of the afternoon.

It went down like water but it really packed a wallop; Michelle ended up having to lie down!

Our friends Ethan and Hannah invited us and another couple over for a backyard bbq.

The weather was perfect!  We got hot and sweaty playing badminton.

And Ethan was a master behind the grill.  I followed Patrick’s lead and topped my chicken sausage with bbq chips.

Plus onions and ketchup.

I also had a skewer of pineapple, green pepper, and chicken that Michelle marinated with some Asian flavors.

Watermelon balls.

And a S’mores Monster Cookie.

Mmmn!  Everyone gave the cookies two thumbs up and Adam and I came home with an empty container.

When the fun was over I finally got down to business and set up my binders from last semester.

That has been on my to-do list since the first day of vacation!  Better late than never?

Dinner was a veggie affair.

Roasted green beans.

Plus a hash of sorts.  Made with 1 Tbsp butter, 1 yellow onion, ~ 1 cup of sliced okra, a 6 oz potato, several glugs of apple cider vinegar, a few dashes of Green Tabasco, and ~ 1 tsp each brown sugar and smoked paprika.

The “hash” ended up tasting exactly like I wanted it to!  I love the tang of vinegar with potatoes.

And I had a tiny bowl of mint chip for dessert.

Summer school starts tomorrow and I’m meeting a friend to workout beforehand (at 6am!) so I’ve got to get to bed.  Hope everyone else had a good day.

Tropical Fruit White Sangria, serves 6 – 8

  • 4 cups sliced fresh pineapple
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 750 mL bottle Riesling
  • 1 cup Cruzan Guava Rum
  • 20 oz lemon lime soda
  1. Place pineapple in a large pitcher.  Pour in sugar and muddle with a large wooden spoon.
  2. Add wine and rum and let sit for 24 hours.
  3. Pour in soda just before serving.

We’re Home From Toronto!

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Did you know we were away?  I hope not, I tried to keep that under my hat.  We found a great deal for hotel/dinner/a movie on Living Social so we took a quick trip.  After two glorious days of mini-vacation now we’re home again!

We actually got back to Buffalo this afternoon but the day’s been packed and I’m just now sitting down.  I’m going to do a mega vacation recap tomorrow, so for today I’ll stick with things consumed on US soil.

Like the medium Americano with skim milk and two sugars that Adam and I split just minutes after crossing the border.

For some reason I’d been craving milk and coffee all weekend and this hit the spot.

We also split a pack of Snyder’s Bacon Cheddar Pretzel Pieces.

They were okay, but basically tasteless compared with the honey mustard ones.

On a healthier note, I drank this sludge.

It was actually delicious.  I mixed this pack of Amazing Grass GREENSuperFood into orange juice and a bit of Silk Vanilla Almond Milk.

I got the idea from the way Jamba Juice used to sell wheatgrass.

Most of the afternoon was spent on errands but I did sneak in a stroll.  We did a ton of walking this weekend but my legs wanted to stretch out after ride home.  Plus, I spotted this from the car and I really needed to check it out –

Awesome.

Our late lunch was stir-fried rice.

Into the pan went varying amounts of –

  • evoo
  • sliced carrots
  • frozen peas
  • leftover rice
  • eggs
  • tomato
  • pineapple
  • rice vinegar

Topped with Sriracha.

It was quite good.

With two gummi bottle candies for dessert.

The red and blue was disgusting but the cola one was great.

We weren’t ready for the fun to end so we headed out to dinner.

Adam opened up my “Buffalo to Try” bookmarks and picked at random.  We ended up at Black Rock Kitchen and Bar.

It was fun but the final consensus is that we won’t be back.  Everything was good-ish but somehow not quite right.

We started with a cheese plate.

And I ordered the shrimp po’ boy.

I traded half of my sandwich for Adam’s eggplant panini with tomato, pesto, and marscapone.

All total I ate the equivalent of 3/4 of a sandwich.  Nothing was bad but the flavors were all slightly too strong; lots of pepper.

We split a bowl of mint chip when we got home.

This wasn’t quite right either.  You can’t win them all!

Double Day, Double Shower, Double Shot

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The two-days-in-one post is because I passed out – on the couch, fully dressed – before I could blog last night.

Backing up to yesterday afternoon… I decided to eat a snack at home before I went on my errands.  A mini bag of popcorn; I believe it was butter flavored because it didn’t taste like kettle corn but I got a big pack with both and the bags aren’t labeled and it drives me crazy.

I started a book while I munched and that meant that errands never happened because once you pick up the last book of the HungerGames trilogy you don’t put it down until it’s done.  <– true story  After love-love-loving the first book I was actually pretty disappointed by the ending of the series.  I don’t want to give anything away here, but I would love to discuss it more in the comments.  I personally was very surprised by some of the choices the author made toward the end.

People who read the Hunger Games trilogy – what did you think of the last book????

While I read I also took alternating bites of a Honeycrisp apple and the last of the Cookie Butter (~1 Tbsp?).

So good.  I prefer the original Biscoff spread to the TJ’s stuff but I was sad to see it go since I won’t be able to purchase it again for a long time.

Dinner was supposed to be quick and easy.

I made an attempt at mozzarella sticks by cutting up string cheese, dipping the pieces in egg white and panko, and baking at 400*.

Nothing like the original (which I actually don’t really care for) but tasty in their own way.

The main dinner component was supposed to be soup.  I served Adam and myself each 2 servings of Imagine’s Organic Creamy Brocoli Soup.

Not a fan.  I want to mention that Adam liked it and ate his whole bowl.  I took two bites and the 2nd bite was only because I really hate to waste food.  When I bought it I thought the texture was going to be thick.  Thin soups, outside of broth with stuff in it, totally set off my gag reflex.

I ended up going to Mezza for take-out for dinner.

It was frustrating to waste the money but my meal was quite tasty.

I got the Chicken Shawarma.

Grilled chicken on a grilled pita with garlic spread, cole slaw, tomatoes, pickles, and tahini sauce.  It was great, especially the cole slaw and pickles, but I’d ask for it without garlic sauce next time because my breath was ridiculous.

My sandwich came with a side of fries.

I ate them all but really I should have skipped them; I already ate cheese sticks!  Then I passed out on the couch.

Today started with a run.  I did ten sets of 1:30 running and 3:30 walking for 50 minutes and 3.9 miles.  Then I took shower #1.

I didn’t have time between my workout and my first errand to make food which sucked because once I left the house I was gone for hours.  I had an appointment to get the oil changed on Adam’s car and then I had to go to the tailor and the Sprint store (Monday’s errands).

I dropped off the car and spent the 40-minute wait taking a great walk.

I made a pit stop for coffee and then kept moving.  A Vietnamese latte from Sweetness_7 Cafe.

After the tailor (I need to learn how to hem my own pants!) I headed back to the Sprint store.  I had to leave my phone with them for another hour but I think that it is finally officially fixed.

While I waited for my phone I grabbed lunch at Cheeburger Cheeburger.

I felt a little strange all by myself but I had a book in my purse to keep me company.

I ordered a turkey burger with cole slaw, pickles, onions, and jalopeños.

It was a good combination of toppings, if I do say so myself!  I moved the bun to the side right away but other than that I ate every last bite.

Shot of espresso #2 (not literally but just go with it) was consumed when the husband got home and we shared a frozen coffee.  I blended up a packet of Starbucks Caramel Via, a scoop of chocolate whey protein powder, 2 cups of skim milk, ~2 Tbsp English Toffee syrup, and lots of ice.

So darn good.  We split it but both kept yanking the cup back from one another.  The English Toffee syrup is something I’ve been trying to get Adam to taste for forever (like the wakame) and he loved it!

Shower #2 was due to workout #2; the husband and I headed to the tennis courts.  I’m pretty good at serving and pretty terrible volleying but he’s hoping to get me to playing shape by the end of the summer.  Right now it’s an extra good workout with all of the running for lost balls.  We “played” for one hour.

We were very hungry for dinner and thankfully it ended up being delicious.

Pretty too!  When I make an especially beautiful plate of food I’m so sad not to have the photography skills to properly capture it.

Roasted zucchini.

~ 2/3 cup cooked brown rice.

An egg.

But not just any egg.

A soft-boiled egg!  (Thanks for the recipe, Jenna!)

And then I smothered the whole bowl in Sriracha.

The end.

Plus two small cookies from Romeo and Juliet’s Cafe for dessert.

A thumbprint and a fig cookie.  I brought Adam home a box from the event last Thursday and apparently he won’t eat the fig ones so they’re mine.

Whew, that was a long post!