My Forever Alone Movie Date

by Emily

Why am I posting at 12:30, tomorrow would have been such a happier day if I had gotten into bed an hour ago? There isn’t much to share on the food front though, so at least I will keep this quick.

Breakfast didn’t happen at home, but thankfully my co-worker offered me her blueberry muffin (she bagged it at Wegman’s and then decided on hot bar instead).

I ate half. I’m not a big muffin person but this was pretty good.

I actually wasn’t supposed to work today, but was called in last night at the last-minute. Work = money, yay! But I had fun stuff planned with Adam that I was really bummed to miss and I was sort of in a funk this morning.

Lunch was a 0% Pear Chobani.

Holy frick I love that flavor so much! I tried one at FNCE and have been biding my time until they showed up in Buffalo.

Also a KeVita Living Green Sparkling Probiotic Drink.

Full disclosure – KeVita sent me some free coupons so I could sample their products. They sent me some extras to share with y’all too; stay tuned! I wasn’t expecting to love the drink, but then I did. It was so refreshing!

Adam was playing poker with friends all evening, so after work I took myself to a movie. I was seeing “Hansel and Gretel” so I didn’t even bother inviting other people. I’m still not sure why I was so obsessed with seeing the film but I did end up enjoying myself. I brought a .25 lb bag of candy for a themed movie snack but didn’t have time to take a picture. It was mostly conversation hearts and they were mostly disgusting.

Dinner didn’t happen until almost 10 pm and I’m still amazed that I managed to stick to my plan.

2 Quorn Cheeseburger patties* topped with some Cabot’s 50% sharp cheddar,

and a sliced cucumber sprinkled with lots of salt.

I also ate these Honey BBQ Smart Fries because I was too hungry to wait patiently for the patties to cook.

I enjoyed the flavor but it wasn’t worth getting seasoning all over my fingers versus the classic version.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

*Adam ate the other two Quorn patties when he got home from poker and proclaimed them to be “very good”

26Jan2013

Fashion Friday

by Emily

The hospital was great today.

I got to chart on several patients and I saw some really interesting cases; everything from cancer to Crohn’s, to burns.

If you think I actually got in bed early last night… you haven’t been reading my blog very long! Of course I stayed up another hour and of course I was exhausted this morning. I had to grab breakfast on the go, a Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Bar.

The taste was good and I loved chewing through the chia. The bar only had 100 calories, but it did provide 4 gram each fiber and protein and 1000 and 800 mg respectively omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

Nutrition fun fact – it is important to get healthy fatty acids in your diets, but did you know that the ratio of omega 6:3 matters too? It should be about 1:1 but most Americans get too much omega-6 and not enough omega-3.

I also had a big cup of coffee at the hospital.

Half vanilla cappuccino (sweetened) and half caramel nut coffee (flavored beans).

I may have packed lunch yesterday, but it wasn’t much help sitting in my fridge all day! Instead I got a salad from the salad bar.

Spring mix topped with tomatoes, banana peppers, french dressing, and scoop of cole slaw.

I wasn’t interested in my packed-but-forgotten turkey sandwich when I got home, but I did eat my Pink Lady apple.

Plus a Caramel Pineapple Chobani Bite topped with some KIND Maple Walnut Clusters with Chia & Quinoa.

<– heavenly

Dinner was a big slice of pizza.

Buffalo chicken with blue cheese for dipping.

This will be my last slice for a little while (I’ll explain soon) and I really enjoyed it.

Fashion Fridays

This post was pretty short, so I figured I’d share my “professional” look with you all. I hope at least a few readers (hi, Nana! hi, Mom!) would like to see what I wore to my first week at the hospital.

Fact 1 – Lose-fitting tops with fun neckline details are pretty much my uniform.

Fact 2 – I know my mirror is filthy. Sometimes I hold Webster up to the mirror to see “the other dog” and I don’t always have time to clean off his nose smudges because by “sometimes” I mean daily.

23Jan2013

My Pictures Went “Poof!”

by Emily

I’m over the hump! Three days in a row of full-time interning, cooking meals, and generally being an adult. And the thought of adding in workouts next week only slightly makes me want to order a pizza and eat it in bed.

[[[Updated to add – I typed my introduction as I was editing today’s photos. Only when I moved forward to write the next paragraph did I realize that I somehow deleted all of my dinner photos. {frick! frick! frick!} It is a good thing that I started this post in a chipper mood.]]]

Today was delicious! Breakfast had two tasty components.

A big glass of Lifeway Lowfat Coconut Chia Kefir.

Yumtastic, this variety is the best kefir I’ve ever had! Sometimes kefir has a bit of a sour aftertaste to it but this flavor had none of that. The coconut flavor was pretty subtle so I think this would appeal to you even if you’re not loco for coco(nut).

With a big bowl of (microwaved frozen) peaches topped with 1 tsp brown sugar, 1/3 cup KIND Maple Walnut Clusters with Chia & Quinoa, and a splash of skim milk.

Yesterday’s gross protein smoothie may not have tasted like peach cobbler, but this sure did.

It was a good day at the hospital. I’m still mostly observing but I got to discuss some pretty interesting patients. My cases today included eating disorders, ketogenic diets for seizure disorders, and failure to thrive. So far this experience has really cemented my desire to go into clinical practice when I graduate.

I did get up early to journal, and then I worked through lunch, but I’ve finally taken a chunk out of that project. There is still a lot to do tomorrow but tonight I managed to just have down time. And I did get to eat lunch while I worked. A big Pink Lady.

Some Skinny Cow peanut butter chocolates.

And I packed us both tuna salad sandwiches.

We split a can of tuna with Miracle Whip, pickle relish, and tons of red onion.

And then I had to chew gum to deal with my horrendous tuna/onion breath.

Worth it.

Afternoon snacks included 3 oz of trail mix eaten in the car.

And a strawberry milk tea with popping and tapioca boba from Gin Gin.

I’ve been raving about the double bubbles at Gin Gin for months and today I finally got to take a similarly obsessed friend to experience the wonder. I’ll have you all know that she too dug through her ice to snag all the boba!

As you know, I don’t have any pictures of dinner. {grrrrrr} Thankfully the meal didn’t photograph all that beautifully anyway. We sautéed linguine, evoo, a bag of frozen veggies (green beans, broccoli, onions, mushroom, and red pepper), 2 eggs, and peanut sauce until crispy and delicious. We each had a large bowl and loved every bite.

My new fun thing is to be starving an hour after dinner each day. I’m not going to fight it, but I am trying to stick to mostly healthy(ish) snacks to deal with my hunger. Today’s 4th meal was a yogurt bowl.

Fage 2% Plain Greek yogurt topped honey and a half serving of granola. A little more sugary than I’m hoping for every day, but the bowl was luscious and it did fill me up.

Are you a kefir fan?

22Jan2013

Peachy Bean

by Emily

Since I didn’t have time for breakfast yesterday, I made myself get up even earlier today. 6:40, ouch! <– yes, I know for most people that’s not actually early

Rounds start earlier today though so I need to leave the house earlier than yesterday too. Make breakfast, eat breakfast, post breakfast, leave earlier?… I’ll keep this quick!

A smoothie for breakfast.

Into the blender (for 2):

2 cups Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
~2 cups frozen peaches
3 scoops Tera’s Whey Bourbon Vanilla Organic Whey Protein

Like peach pie. Sort of. If peach pie had too much protein powder in it and tasted like chemicals.

I forced most of it down so I won’t be hungry all morning.

what i’ll be having for lunch…

Today’s lunch is going to be amazing, I’m sure of it. I’m bringing back my new favorite salad. There is healthy stuff on the bottom, I swear.

Black eyed peas + chopped green pepper + chopped Kerrygold Vintage Dubliner + smoked almonds + green Tabasco.

Clifford the Big Red Pear.

Milk and dark toffee candy. More on that in a minute.

I’ll see you after I finish my 2nd day of dietetic internship!

p.s. My word-play in the title is making me want to experiment with putting fresh peaches into barbecue baked beans.

back to the candy…

The toffees were actually part of a sample from SurprisesByMail.com. Note – I received the sample free of charge to review. All opinions are my own.

Here was the info I received from the company:

SurprisesByMail.com offers a variety of gift boxes filled with your choice of goodies, a perfect gift for anyone this Valentine’s Day, from mom to a significant other. Pick out your Valentine’s favorite treats; from sweets, to chocolates, fudge, baked goods, nuts, dried fruit, pretzels and more. Boxes can be customized even further with personal messages and images. Available in four affordable box options.

And here is what I got:

Two different boxes, one with dark chocolate nonpareils and another with a candy assortment (milk and dark chocolate covered Oreos, toffees, caramels, and some buckeyes).

Pros: the packaging was cute and fun, both candies felt high-quality and were very tasty, and the site has a good variety of options that are fairly priced.

Cons: though it is cute, the multiple layers of packaging are pretty wasteful; I wish that the service was a bit greener.

Have you ever gotten any mailer gifts? My mom got me two subscriptions for Christmas; one to Birchbox (loving it!) and other to a natural snacks company.

21Jan2013

Winter Weight Gain

by Emily

I came through my first full-time day at the hospital with flying colors! Well, I guess I was a little in the gray when I ran out of time in the morning and had to skip breakfast, but that was the only hiccup. I had fun, learned a lot, and made it through 8 – 4 without thinking longingly of my couch once!

We were busy on rounds (walking around the floor and listening to the medical residents give an update on all of the patients) all morning and I was too busy to miss breakfast. Then I got to grab a tea latte from Tim Horton’s while we charted.

My earl grey with frothed skim milk was great. And the RD let me chart on a patient! I’ve got to do a lot of work independently to meet all of my internship curriculum goals so it was a good sign that they let me hit the ground running. In the afternoon, among other things, I observed a gestational diabetes education that I’m eager to try on my own.

I was worried about finding a table in the packed cafeteria, but thankfully the RDs invited me to sit with them for lunch. I’m with a different person each day of the week so it was great to get to meet some of them in advance.

I packed a really tasty sandwich.

A multi-grain Sandwich Thin with Crofter’s strawberry preserves, 2 slices of Applegate Farms Honey & Maple Turkey, Cabot’s 50% reduced sharp cheddar, and pickled jalopeños.

A pack of Annie Chun’s Sesame Roasted Seaweed Snacks.

And a Trader Joe’s 100-calorie milk chocolate bar.

This lunch was perfect – fun, healthy, and it helped fuel my brain through its first afternoon of actual thought!

Before I knew it, the day was over and Adam was picking me up. His lab was closed for Martin Luther King Day and I was thrilled that he could drive me because it is brutal outside. My phone’s weather forecast for Wednesday is a giant, ominous looking snowflake.

My workday may have flown by, but our errands took forever. Adam and I ended up splitting an ice cream Twix bar while we were out and about.

He {claims that he} hates Twix bars so the sharing portions were in my favor.

I also snacked on a Caramel Pineapple Chobani Bite with the last of the blackberries.

This snack was so flipping good, I can’t wait to eat the rest of the pack of Chobani and I must buy more fresh berries immediately! The caramel gave the yogurt a little extra sumthin’ sumthin’ compared to the regular pineapple variety and the entire gorgeous carton only has 100 calories. Plus it smelled delicious and made me want a big slice of cheesecake.

– – – Sidenote: Why, oh why did I keep scrolling through Chobani’s website? I need the Key Lime Crumble and Almond Coco Loco Flips, need. I’m sure they won’t hit Buffalo for another couple of months and I’m basically going to die. – – –

Dinner was a big salad with some confusion about its roots.

Inside the jumble –

baby spinach
peanut sauce
1 Tbsp ground flax
chopped green pepper
chopped red onion
buckwheat groats
chopped honeycrisp
leftover 1000 island bbq sauce pulled chicken

Somehow all of those flavors just worked together.

I’m still feeling a bit hungry but I did a lot of nibbling while I assembled dinner and tomorrow’s lunch so I’m closing my kitchen for the day. I’ve been steadily gaining weight since we moved to Buffalo but recently my unhealthy habits have been out of control and I’m officially too fat for some of my work pants. Pride and health may not have motivated me (though they really should of!) but my wallet sure does – it’s time to lose some weight! I’m not planning on going on a diet, far from it, I’m just going to stop being ridiculous. Wish me luck?

Did you gain any weight over the winter holidays?

20Jan2013

30 Days?

by Emily

Since I last blogged… Adam was out-of-town on one of his very last trips this year (yay!) and I lived on the couch eating Chinese food and laughing so loudly at “30 Rock” that I hurt my throat. We all had our parts to play.

I did occasionally peel off my his sweatpants, once to visit the hospital where I will be spending the next month. The final semester of my Coordinated Program is full-time internship hours – though I will actually being taking a history class too, to finish up my graduation requirements. The semester is split into thirds: 1 = clinical work at a major hospital, 2 = time in long-term care and independent work on a business plan, and 3 = placement of our choosing.

I chose a local children’s hospital so I could get more exposure to pediatric nutrition. For the next four weeks, I’ll be at the hospital (M-F, 8-4:00), trying to soak up as much as I can. I am so excited! I’ll be sure to share more details tomorrow.

Since I have to spend the next month rejoining the world of the living – aka showering regularly and eating meals that wouldn’t make my classmates wince! – I figured I would try to knock off my 30 days of blogging goal. We’ll see how long that lasts.

And my new camera? I’m on the fence. I’m missing the old version (I rebought the Sony Cybershot but in a newer model) and hoping that I’m just working my way through the learning curve. For today, I forgot to resize the photos and editing this post took way too long. I’ll have to let the pictures speak for themselves and keep my descriptions short…

Cascadian Farm Berry Cobbler Granola with fresh blackberries and the last of the vanilla cashew milk.

Argo Tea Hibiscus Tea Sangria. <– so refreshing!

Chocolate Crisp Bumble Bar.

Spicy avocado brown rice inari.

Smart Fries.

Dinner.

Chicken – cooked in the crock pot then shredded – tossed in my 1000 Island BBQ Sauce.

Roasted green beans.

An Alexia Artisan Sweet Potato Roll.

A few words on the rolls, since Alexia sent them to me to review – we liked them. I don’t know if I’d say loved, since potato bread isn’t one of my very favorites, but they were certinaly the best packaged bread product I’ve ever had. The rolls were fluffy with a nice crust and while the flavor didn’t scream sweet potato there was definitely a little something extra there. They were easy to cook (12 minutes in the oven) and each roll has 110 calories and 5 grams of protein.

I spread a little Smart Balance Light on the split roll after I snapped the photo and I quite enjoyed it.

What’s your favorite type of bread? Mine is sourdough, mmmn!

8Jan2013

Keeping Time

by Emily

Here is a highlights post for Monday and Tuesday… I think… Adam and I stayed up past 3am several days in a row and I’ve been slightly confused about time ever since. Case in point: I spent Friday rushing around to accommodate the post office’s reduced Saturday hours. Then Saturday night I took a Sunday night pill.

And I really must be losing my mind because yesterday I went to the gym. And I want to go back again tomorrow!

{highlights}

We ate a lot (a lot!) of good food the last few days, here were the really great bites –

Pizza and salad. Romaine with black beans, groats, green pepper and peanut sauce. Pizza Hut’s extra cheese for the win.

Pecan turtle tart from the co-op.

A sweet snack plate; aka 2 green dragon apples, melted pb and Biscoff for dipping, and the last of the cheese straws.

A killer chocolate banana smoothie.

A few notes on the smoothie – it was made with a Smoothie Mixer that I was sent to sample.

Nativas Naturals joined forces with William Sonoma to create a new line of organic superfood smoothie blends. From WS –

The Antioxidants Smoothie Mixer is a sweet-tangy blend of organic superfruits including goji, acai, pomegranate, camu and blueberry. These superfruits contain an abundance of antioxidants. We suggest mixing this gluten-free blend with frozen berries, mango, orange juice and honey.

The Omega-3 Smoothie Mixer is a fruity blend that combines three fiber-rich sprouted seeds and grains (chia, flax and brown rice) with cranberries. The gluten-free blend provides a plentiful supply of plant-based essential fatty acids (Omega 3, 6 and 9). Julie Morris, our Executive Chef, likes to mix it with frozen berries, yogurt, almond milk, honey and vanilla.

The rich, chocolaty Protein Smoothie Mixer features three of the most nutrient-dense superfoods in the world (hemp, cacao and maca) and a delicious low-glycemic natural sweetener from Peru (lucuma). This kosher blended powder is a nourishing source of protein and omegas, as well as antioxidants found in the feel-good cacao. Blend this gluten-free Smoothie Mixer with a banana, peanut butter, non-milk of your choice and honey.

I received an e-mail offering me a chance to try one of the blends and I chose the protein one because I know that my breakfasts could use a little more protein for staying power.

I decided to the blend in a simple smoothie first – Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, frozen bananas, Protein Smoothie Mixer, and a bit of honey. Adam and I both thought that the smoothies were great. The powder blends in easily and gives the smoothie a nice hint of chocolate. I took a few sips from the blender before I added the honey (which was mostly for Adam’s benefit) and determined that I would not normally feel the need to sweeten it. Two thumbs up! Let’s be real though, the smoothie was good, but it was nowhere near as awesome as my new cup.

❤

Do you ever get confused about what day it is? I’m almost looking forward to going back to school just so I’ll have some clue of what’s happening around me!

4Jan2013

Fresh Fage French Onion Dip

by Emily

I did not end up watching tv last night but I didn’t go to bed for hours either. I also did not eat my coconut butter snack.

Instead I had it for breakfast.

The Artisana Cacao Bliss packet was delicious! The taste and texture reminded me of crumbly chocolate frosting. Plus it was super filling. I have two more of the packets and I’m very much looking forward to them. And yes, that is a soda in the back of the picture; breakfast didn’t happen until near noon. As it always goes the day after a migraine, my eats were all over the place today.

I got up late in a daze, made some important school calls, and then rushed out of the house to run time-sensitive errands. By the time I made my way to Wegman’s it was after 4:00 and I was starving. Hot bar to the rescue.

Asian wokery veggies, watermelon, and pineapple.

A little bit of sweet and sour pineapple chili chicken plus a Thai chicken spring roll.

And I snagged these adorable cupcake gummies from the bulk bins.

They were like little vanilla-berry pillows.

Dinner round 1 was a taco salad.

A romaine base topped with chopped green pepper, black beans, a handful of crushed Beanitos, chopped Cabot 50% light sharp cheddar, and a big scoop of Wegman’s pineapple salsa.

I gave my bowl a 30 second nuke in the microwave a few bites in and it made it even better. I think I prefer Wegman’s version of the pineapple salsa to Newman’s Own’s; the sweetness and the spice are both a little less intense.

Dinner round 2 was lightened up chips and dip.

2 servings of ruffles,

and a bowl of Fresh Fage French Onion Dip.

I’ve been craving french onion dip (with freshly caramelized onions!) for days so I decided to try my hand a lighter version. I included the recipe for the dip at the bottom of this post. It was really delicious!

Dessert was a mini pack of strawberry-filled koala cookies and a serving of Skinny Cow Peanut Butter Cream Filled Chocolates.

Both were good, but I have got to cut back on the sugar. I have been soooooo hungry this week and it’s driving me crazy.

Adam has been out-of-town the past few days and he gets back tonight = yay!!!!! We have two fun days planned this weekend and I can’t wait.

Fresh Fage French Onion Dip, serves 1-2 (Or more, if you’re into smaller – i.e. 2-3 Tbsp – servings. For 1-2 people this recipe makes a large enough bowl of dip to really scoop your chips into.)

1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp evoo
1 medium sweet onion, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp plus 1 large pinch salt
7 oz container 2% Plain Fage Total yogurt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp onion powder

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add butter and oil to heated pan. When butter is completely melted, stir in the onion and pinch of salt. Cook 5 – 7 minutes until onions caramelize, stirring occasionally. Remove caramelized onions from heat and let cool for 1 – 3 minutes before adding to yogurt.
Place yogurt in a large bowl. Add onions, Worcestershire, onion powder, and remaining salt and stir until well-combined. Serve with carrot sticks or ruffled chips.

What is your favorite kind of dip? I’m a buffalo chicken dip girl myself, gotta embrace the homeland!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: product review

My Forever Alone Movie Date

Fashion Friday

Fashion Fridays

My Pictures Went “Poof!”

Peachy Bean

what i’ll be having for lunch…

back to the candy…

Winter Weight Gain

30 Days?

Keeping Time

{highlights}

Fresh Fage French Onion Dip