Tag Archives: pumpkin

Chocolate, Croissants, Coffee, and Cuddling

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As my title indicates, it’s been a damn good day!  This is the most time I’ve gotten to spend with the husband in weeks.  Other than my short, 4-hour shift at work, we spent the whole day together.  There was studying I could have done, and I certainly could have eaten healthier food, but I’m calling today a raging success!

We started our morning by sampling last night’s baking efforts.

My Pumpkin Double Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Muffins earn two giant thumbs up.

Next we perfected my drinking chocolate recipe.

Two more thumbs!  I’ll be sharing that recipe on Halloween.

And finally, we settled in for croissants, coffee, “Chopped,” and cuddling.

I had a Wegman’s chocolate croissant,

and a small mug of coffee (cinnamon vanilla nut, brewed with ground cinnamon) with skim milk and sugar.

When we were at the store picking up croissants we snagged pimento cheese samples.

The cheese spread was only ok, but the baguette they served it on was perfection.

Lunch foods were a Cara Cara orange,

and baby carrots with blue cheese dressing.

I should have eaten more food and less chocolate because I was very hungry when I got out of work.  Co-op salads were consumed on the car ride home to stave off hunger and get in some veggies.  Ramen cabbage crunch,

and 5 bean and feta salad.

I had about half of each and handed the rest off to Adam.

A friend was coming over and we had to clean up our hovel, so dinner was snacky.  1.5 oz of smoked almonds with 1.5 Tbsp butterscotch chips,

and (2) 100-calorie bags of kettle corn with 2 Tbsp of melted butter.

I’m definitely not minding the vegan challenge as an excuse to eat up all of the cheese and butter!

While our friend was over, the three of us split this Crispin hard cider.

The Saint wasn’t quite as good as the honeycrisp variety, but it still got good reviews all around.  Not too sweet or sour.

Adam and I finished up the day with bbq and buffalo chicken pizza (from Zetti’s) while we got our Halloween movie on.

“Once Bitten,” aka the 80’s-fabulous vampire movie that was Jim Carrey’s first starring role.  OB always reminds me of my friend Lana Winter and is one of my favorite films for Halloween.

We did something super fun while our friend was over but I’m going to tell you tomorrow because I have to get into bed this very minute.  Good night!

Have you ever seen “Once Bitten?”

Present

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I know it’s ironic that my “present time” post is a recap of yesterday, but what can you do?

Yesterday started with a Microbiology test that my busy, crazy week completely kept me from studying for.  I think I managed to do ok; not as well as I would have liked but not badly either.  I’m not looking forward to the MNT exam on Wednesday though!

I ate a Sweet Tango on the walk to school.

And a S’mores Luna Bar between classes.

Then a delicious sandwich on the walk to work.  A whole grain sandwich thin with pumpkin spice cream cheese and {a lot of} Cabot 75% reduced fat cheddar.

It probably could have used some meat, but the flavor combo was divine.

Actually, it definitely could have used some meat because I was starving when I got out of work.  I stopped at the co-op to scope out the sales and ended up eating a Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Plus Protein KIND bar on the walk home.

Dinner was made from these simple ingredients:

A small portion of Annie’s Shells and Real Aged Cheddar (sauce cooked with butter and no milk) with edamame and Trader Joe’s Smoked Trout.

The trout was by far the best component, so smokey and good!

Though I doused my bowl in Sriracha after I took the picture so the whole thing was pretty fantastic 🙂

I also ate 2 handfuls of smoked almonds.

We were up late doing some baking and I got hungry again.

I also sampled one of our muffins when they got out of the oven.

And then I hit the bed snoring!

I don’t have to go into work until 2pm today so I have a gloriously free morning.  Adam’s day cleared up at the last minute too; very serendipitous!  We are planning a chocolate breakfast and an evening of pumpkins!

Past and Future

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Wow; long time no blog!  It’s been a week, which feels crazy.  Last weekend, Adam was out-of-town on interviews and since I didn’t want to broadcast that all over the internet I kept mum.  Then the week was a busy disaster.  One night I came home from work and got straight into bed at 8:20.  One night I drank too many pumpkin beers and got a little drunk.  One night I was out late working on a group project.  And last night the dog threw up and then when we went to clean up I threw up.  Good times.

The Past: Some Things Worth Highlighting from the Last Week

Annie Chun’s Spicy Chicken Ramen.

This soup came together in a snap and it felt fairly authentic.  It was spicy without making you want to run for the gallon of milk.

Another apple-cereal bowl.

This winner creation had steamed (aka microwaved) Honeycrisp apple with Special K Vanilla Pecan, All Bran Bran Buds, honey roasted peanuts, tons of cinnamon, and skim milk.

The new gelato place on Elmwood has pumpkin.

It was good, but the coconut half was even better.

These two pumpkin beers get two thumbs up.

The Long Trail was good, the Saranac was great.

The Potato Chip chocolate bar from Chuao is ridiculous.

Such a perfect melody of salty and sweet!  And the crispiness was fun too.  Now I want to try all of the other flavors!

Arby’s is selling a Peppermint Stick Swirl Shake.

If you like candy canes (who doesn’t?!) you’ll love it.

Mr. Pizza sells a veggie pie that is great.

It was packed with veggies, including green olives!

The Future: A Vegan Challenge in November

Yep, starting next week I’ll begin my annual 1-month vegan challenge.  One of my IRL friends agreed to do it with me and I’d love to have some of my internet friends join as well.  Think about it???

Pumpkin Butterscotch Bars

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It’s Pumpkin Month!  But you already knew that.  I really wanted to make pumpkin squares, so I did some Googling.  I got lots of results, but most of them were for pumpkin chocolate chip squares.  I wanted butterscotch.  So I made my own!

These bars have just a bit more chew than a pumpkin loaf.  They pack a lot of spice, but it’s nicely tempered by the butterscotch and toffee.

Pumpkin Butterscotch Bars; yields 16 small squares  (base ingredients inspired by 20 recipes from the internets)

  • 1 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup butterscotch morsels
  • 1/2 cup Heath toffee bits
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.  Prepare a 8 x 8 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, stir together pumpkin, sugars, oil, and vanilla.  Fold in remaining ingredients.
  3. Pour batter into prepared baking dish and bake 40 – 45 minutes until firm and slightly browned.
  4. Cool and slice.

P.S.  Did anyone notice that when I first published this post I had three different recipe names between the post, the title, and the picture?!  I’m not feeling very well!

Three Day Weekend

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My “three-day weekend” only refers to blogging.  I still went to school on Friday.  And work.  And volunteering and work on Saturday.  And school and work on Sunday.  I guess it actually wasn’t a very relaxing weekend!  I did take pictures, but recapping every single thing I ate sounds pretty tedious.  Instead, let’s focus just on things that were fun and sweet!

Sweet Eats from 10/12, 10/13, and 10/14

An apple, cereal, cinnamon bowl that quickly became one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.  Certainly the best bowl of cereal that’s ever passed my lips!

1 serving each of Vanilla Almond Special K and All Bran Bran Buds, topped with 2 Tbsp Skippy Natural Super Chunk with Honey pb and lots of cinnamon.  I microwaved the bowl for 30 seconds to get everything warm then poured on skim milk.  Ridiculous!  Expect to see many repeats of this.

White chocolate candy corn M&M’s.

These were delicious and I have no idea why they aren’t listed on the website or available at more stores.  I found my bag at 7-11 and snatched it up.  The chocolate isn’t sickly sweet like some white chocolate can be and the candies really do taste like candy corn!

Pumpkin Butterscotch Bars.

Exactly what they sound like.  I made a batch on a whim and I’ll be sharing the recipe tomorrow afternoon.

Red velvet hot cakes from Nelson’s Ridge Diner.

“Red velvet hot cakes served with a cream cheese icing, powdered sugar, and whipped cream.”  Adam and I shared a plate and neither of us could stop swooning!  In addition to being amazing, these were the best pancakes I’ve ever had.  We were also pretty intrigued by these….

What was sweet about your weekend?

Food Fun At FNCE In Philly

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I’m home!  If you didn’t know, I spent the past five days in Philadelphia attending the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ (AND) Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE); alphabet soup, much?!

I went with two fabulous friends and we had a great time.  Our days were packed (I need a vacation from this vacation!) and I am very glad I made the decision in advance not to blog.  In fact, I’m barely going to do a recap.

I would love to talk about the sessions I attended, and all of the things that I learned, but I have homework to catch up on, a shift at work this evening, and a huge test on Friday, so I doubt it’s going to happen.

I do have a few shots of some of the fun food though.

Amazing (2nd only to my favorite place in Brooklyn) eggplant pizza that we had the first night when we stayed with one of my friends from high school.

Taro milk bubble tea.

Hot, spiked, apple cider from a street fair.  We also had pumpkin beer and apple pie shots; we were drinking seasonally this trip.

The expo –

My swag –

It was amazing/ridiculous and my friends and I ended up offering a bag of food to a man I saw digging in a trash can as we were walking from the conference to our car.

Pumpkin pie frozen yogurt.

The best espresso I’ve ever had.

Sidenote – I drank my coffee holding back tears.  We went to eat a vegan cheese-steak on our last day in town and found out that the place was out of seitan!

The Chobani bar at the expo was hands-down the best part.

This Strawberry FrozFruit was a very close second.  My favorite thing in high school was the coconut version.

And a final treat at home – tiny chocolate hamburgers that I brought back for the husband.

Who’s hungry?!

Hello, Pumpkin Month!

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I realize that open season on pumpkin began a few days ago, but work with me here.  My first day of the month was so fabulous that I couldn’t skip blogging it, even if a few days have passed.

I did, however, have my giant (soul-crushing) exam that morning so I started my day with a coffee energy drink from the vending machines.

But then I moved on to the juiciest, crunchiest, crispiest Jazz apple of the year.

Once home, I put the first wave into the fridge.

And made myself a salad.

– romaine topped with a heaping Tbsp each ground flax, buckwheat groats, and peanut sauce –

And soup.

– seaweed ramen –

I picked up a short, non-fat pumpkin spice latte on my walk to work.

Adam met me at the end of my shift and we walked over to Blue Monk so I could get the beer I’ve been coveting since September.

Southern Tier’s Pumpking!

It is sweet and squashy and smells like the best dessert you’ll ever eat.  <– which is funny because I actually hate pumpkin pie

And then I was wasted because apparently I’m a light-weight like no other.  In spite of my obnoxiously loud giggles, we forged ahead and got food too.

An appetizer of marinated olives and pickled veggies with sourdough bread.

I ate ~25%.

And we split the veggie burger.

– Artichoke and chickpea patty with fresh tomato jam, cilantro aioli, on a whole wheat bun and sweet potato fries –

I ate 50%, minus most of my bun.

On the walk home we stopped at Spot for fallish desserts.

My caramel apple cupcake was old and stale (I ate ~33%), but it was still a fabulous end to the evening.

….

And then Tuesday was my first clinic day at the hospital and it was ridiculous and I ate all of my meals on the go, with no camera, the end.

Miami Bound

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I’m not sure how this hasn’t come up on the blog yet (because it’s all I talk about in real life), but I’m going to Miami for Thanksgiving!!!  Adam and I are meeting my parents there tomorrow for four days of nostalgic, sunny, fun.  We don’t have any family in Florida (we’re spending Turkey Day at a steak/seafood place) but my parents loved visiting when Adam and I went to UM and they thought it’d be fun to recreate a trip.

I’ve been excited for weeks but I hadn’t actually thought logistics until this morning.  Today’s to-do list includes –

  • packing for myself and the husband
  • packing some sort of “brunch” for the airplane tomorrow
  • painting my toe nails
  • shaving my legs for the first time in at least two months (eww!)
  • putting away tons of laundry
  • dropping the dog off at the vets for boarding
  • lots of random schoolwork

Where are you spending Thanksgiving?

I started my morning with the most decadent oatmeal.

I know a lot of food bloggers use that word a lot, decadent, but this bowl seriously was.  I had to use up the open pumpkin but wasn’t in the mood for its slightly bitter flavor and I just kept adding ingredients to cover it up.

What I ended up with was –

  • 1 cup skim milk (cooked)
  • 1 medium banana, sliced (cooked)
  • 1 pinch salt (cooked)
  • 1/4 cup oats (cooked)
  • 1/4 cup pumpkin (cooked)
  • 1/4 cup 1% cottage cheese (stirred in at the end)
  • 2 tsp butterscotch chips (topped)
  • 1 Tbsp Biscoff spread (topped)
  • 1 Tbsp light cream (topped)

Dang.  And amazingly my least favorite additions were the chips and Biscoff; they strong-armed the other flavors in their bites.  My most favorite was the cottage cheese.  I’ve used that before but I don’t think I realized how much I like it.  I need to put that on the grocery list more often!

Don’t forget, you have until 2pm EST to enter my Duncan Hines giveaway.