Tag Archives: pumpkin

My Exam Was On A Low Carb Diet

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{This post was started last night.}

One three-hour review session probably wasn’t enough, but at least I don’t think I failed today’s exam.  And I handed in my paper too so now it’s two down, one to go for this week; phew!  I did make one really silly (really embarrassing!) mistake that is going to cost me a lot of points.  I was thinking adult DRIs for CHO but fixating on percentages for CHO in the DASH diet and ended up saying that older adults require only 55-65 grams of carbohydrates each day!  <– Carbs are the primary energy source for brain function and the RDA is 130 grams/day!

I think I needed more coffee.

That’s ice, Godiva Pumpkin Spice Coffee, Plain Silk Almond Milk, and a big splash of English Toffee Syrup.  I tasted before sweetening and sadly I don’t think I like the Godiva Pumpkin Spice Coffee outside of pumpkin latte oatmeal.  Too much spice for me.  I brought the rest of the bag in to my friend Kim and she’s going to report back.

Here was the rest of breakfast.

A 2% Fage with Strawberry.

And a Berries GoMega Superfood Bar that Odwalla sent me to try.

I didn’t care for the bar and only ended up eating two small bites.  My negative review is for a positive reason though – this tasted like a berry muffin!  It’s just that I don’t like muffins all that much.  I shared with a friend who confirmed my muffin assessment.  We did admire that it provided 25% percent daily value of your Folate and Calcium and 50% daily value for Vitamin E for only 210 calories.  If you are a muffin person I recommend it.

Lunch was a bagel sandwich that I recommend to everyone.

Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Thin + Applegate Farms Honey Maple Turkey + reduced fat pumpkin cream cheese (mine is from Einstein’s Bagel Bros) = Yum!

I’ll be honest and admit that this could have used a slice of cheese, but other than that it was pure perfection.

I brought in the rest of the Ghirardelli dark chocolate (a Foodbuzz sample) to share with the girls as study fuel.

One piece was enough for me.

And before I knew it – mostly because I was thinking too hard to look at the clock – my exam was done and one final class stood between me and freedom!

In this case, freedom meant beer.

Adam and I split this Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale 40/60 his favor.  Tasting note – not bad, but not really pumpkin-y either.

And I drank this Dogfish Head Punkin Ale all by myself.

I really did taste pumpkin, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg.  And beer!  This is my favorite pumpkin brew so far this season (2nd would be Shock Top’s pumpkin).

Notes – I hadn’t had much to eat, I was tired, I’m a lightweight.  Those notes are important because what I did next was get drunk and go to bed at 8:30 pm!  Haha, I’m sure I needed the sleep.

I’m feeling well-rested now, which is awesome because I’ve got to do some serious learning for tomorrow’s exam.  Hope everyone is having a good week!

Beenie Weenies

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I stayed up until almost 2am last night getting myself on the right page study-wise; yuck!  I was so tired and distracted that I probably would have been better off just going to bed but it felt good to check “make notecards” off of my list.  I’ve had a busy day so I haven’t gotten to review as much as I’d like but I’m going to make an early(ish) bedtime my priority today.  Thank goodness for the 3-hour break between classes before tomorrow’s exam!

I slept in instead of showering (it’s also possible I’m still wearing the shirt I went to bed in last night, but that’s neither here nor there) but I did leave myself time to make breakfast.

They’re back!  Pumpkin smoothies are one of my favorite things about October; they just don’t feel right during other months.  They are squash-y and just a bit sweet and the texture is more pudding than smoothie which makes them all the more fabulous.

For 1, I blended –

  • 1 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1/2 cup Wegman’s 0% Plain Greek Yogurt
  • 1/2 cup Plain Silk Almond Milk
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup
  • 2 big shakes pumpkin pie spice

I didn’t have time to pack lunch so I was excited when I found out we were doing some cookie sampling in class (I split 2 with a friend).

Nevermind!  We were making sure that some prepared mixes hadn’t gone bad before we used them for a bake sale next week but these had definitely expired.  The white chocolate chips were rancid and gave me the worst chemical feeling in the back of my throat, like my nose was being scorched.  One small bite of each was definitely enough!

I fled to the vending machines for relief, at that point I probably would have eaten beef jerky to get the taste out of my mouth.

Thankfully I found peanut M&M’s and didn’t have to resort to jerky 😉 I shared with friends and probably ate ~2/3 of the package.

I had a 2:45 orthodontist appointment so I stayed at school after class to get a bit of work done.  Then I had to go to the post office, then I had to take the dog on a long walk…  I haven’t really been mentioning No Take-out ‘Tober because it’s been pretty easy but this afternoon was the first time I wanted to run screaming into an eatery.  We were mid-walk, 8 hours since I’d eaten breakfast, and let’s just say Webster was glad I’m semi-vegetarian or I would have tried to stick him in a hot dog bun!

I made myself a bowl of juicy things as soon as I got home.

A yellow nectarine and a red plum.

I made something for the husband too.

He called to say he was on his way home and I thought about greeting him at the door with a martini but decided that a spinach salad on the table was basically the same as a martini at the door.

Right?  Probably not, but at least I set out vitamins (seen lurking in the background).

It’s good to make a snazzy salad/fruit course when you’re serving leftovers for dinner.

Particularly if those leftovers are hot dogs and baked beans, aka Beanie Weenies.

Let’s be real though, I loved this meal!  I topped ~3/4 cup of apple cider cabbage leftovers a serving of hot dogs and beans, topped with a dollop of 0% plain Greek yogurt and lots of drops of Sriracha.

Plus 2 servings of Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos that Adam brought home from a golf tournament this weekend.

My favorite chips are the foldsies.

Yum.

Leftovers or not, this was a fabulous dinner.

I’ve got to scurry into the shower so I can get to bed and at least be rested if not reviewed for my test tomorrow.  I’ll leave you with this, meet Pig –

Godiva Pumpkin Spice Latte Oatmeal

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Happy Columbus Day!  I believe that the man was more of a monster than master-navigator, but I’m always happy for a day off.  I took advantage of today’s freedom and made myself a nice breakfast.

Disclaimer – I was sent some of Godiva’s newest seasonal flavors to try free of charge via the Foodbuzz Tastemakers Program.

If you are a food blog reader, “Pumpkin Spice” can send your mind only two places – lattes and oatmeal.  I went with latte oatmeal.

Godiva Pumpkin Spice Latte Oatmeal, serves 1

  • 1/2 cup brewed Godiva Pumpkin Spice coffee*
  • 1/2 cup skim milk
  • pinch salt
  • 1/3 cup oats
  • 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup canned pumpkin
  • toppings of choice
  1. Combine milk and coffee in a small saucepan and heat to boiling.
  2. Stir in salt and oats and simmer five minutes, stirring regularly.
  3. Stir in spice, brown sugar, and pumpkin.  Continue to cook until desired consistency is reached, stirring regularly.
  4. Serve and top as desired.

I topped my bowl with unsweetened coconut and butterscotch chips.

*Note – this recipe produced a strong coffee flavor.  If you are less of a latte lover you may want to adjust the ratio of coffee to milk.

Today Was The Day

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Hello, hello!  I woke up on the right side of the bed this morning, or rather I traveled to school the right way today.  By walking!

I’ll be glad to have my car and parking permit when the weather gets a bit more blustery, but for now I think I’ll try to hoof it more often.  The weather was crisp and cool, and the 20 minutes of travel gave me time to clear my head.  Plus, it’s better for both my body and Mother Earth’s.

I ended up not really packing breakfast or lunch, but doing a brunch-type meal during my first class.  Roasted green beans are delicious, even leftover and cold, but they did feel a little gaggy at 8am.

I pushed through, because I knew something better was coming.

I know that cinnamon raisin Bagel Thin looks unassuming, anything but!

I toasted him and spread one side with the most amazing goat cheese and the other with reduced fat pumpkin cream cheese.  The combination was out of this world.

Confession – I bought the cream cheese in early September while we were visiting my grandparents in Ohio.

I brought it back home to Buffalo and squirreled it away until Pumpkin Month.  It was still good.  And it was good.

Finally I packed a crunchy Sweet Tango apple,

which I ate during the 3-hour break.  We have a tough test coming on Friday so I crunched while I studied.

It’s possible my friends and I didn’t spend the entire three hours with our noses in books.  Gossip, Grey’s Anatomy, and Biscoff Spread discussion might have filled some time as well.  Especially when we realized that we made plans to get cupcakes more than a month ago and they still hadn’t come to fruition.  We decided today was the day.

First we had to get through 2 more classes.  Class #1 answered some really interesting questions I’ve always had about starvation mode and weight loss, and class #2 handed back last week’s exam that I scored a 96% on.  Something to celebrate!

As soon as we were dismissed a group of us hit the Elmwood strip and walked down to Zillycakes.

I can’t believe that I’ve lived in Buffalo for three years and hadn’t gone in here yet; the inside was adorable.

Janessa and I decided to split to maximize our flavor sampling potential.

2 minis and full, which ended up being the perfect serving of cupcake when shared.

We had 1) a mini vegan pumpkin with vegan brown sugar and spice icing.

I ate this first because I was expecting the least of it, but this flavor actually ended up being my favorite.  The icing was perfectly spiced and crunchy in a really pleasing way.

2) A mini caramel apple cupcake with salted caramel buttercream and toffee bits.

This was my least favorite, but it was still delicious.  There were pieces of dried apple in the cake which we both loved.

3) A full-sized mudd cupcake with dark chocolate ganache.

The cake was studded with Oreo crumbles, just like dirt pudding!  I liked the icing but it wasn’t at all what I was expecting.  It was like a dark chocolate pudding but I always thought that ganache was supposed to have a more thick, stiff texture?  Either way, it was delicious.

Wednesday’s class doesn’t get out until 4:30 so after cupcaking and taking a long walk with the husband and dog it was time for dinner.

We cooked up a box of mac and cheese with ~ 2/3 cup each frozen edamame and frozen veggie blend (carrots, peas, corn, green beans, lima beans).  We got 2.5 servings out of a 2 serving box so beefing vegging things up certainly helps to spread your dollars and calories.  I topped my serving with a dollop of sour cream and a liberal sprinkling of Sriracha.

Mmmmmmn.  I ran several sprints with the dog though (he was unusually energetic today) and my smallish serving was not enough.  I ended up going back to the kitchen for the last slice of GH sourdough spread with Smart Balance Light.

Now I’m perfectly satisfied.

Have you ever had ganache?  What’s it like?

10/90 Work To Sleep

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I spent basically the whole day napping with the dog and the husband.  It was epic.

Just like next week will be an epic fail as I try to work around all the stuff I didn’t do.

I swear the cold just makes me go into hibernation.  My appetite was all over the place too.  We started our “morning” with hunks of sourdough dipped in herbed olive oil.

Off all the things my body could have demanded at 45* degrees in October, next came ice cream.

I topped Ben and Jerry’s Cinnamon Roll ice cream with hot fudge and Heath crumbles.

When we did make our way out of the cave it was to go to the movies.  50/50 was great; very touching and funny.  I love Seth Rogan in everything he does but it was nice to get to see him play a new role.

We also made a weekly trip to Wegmans.  They were out of eggplant entirely which through our meal plan for a loop, but I think we worked it out.  We didn’t get any hot bar (more on that tomorrow) but I did buy 50cents worth of Halloween candy.

50cents for $100 worth of happiness.  I live for theme things.

Following the theme, Adam and I split a pumpkin beer when we got home.

Shock Top’s Pumpkin Wheat was wonderful.  Not bitter at all like some pumpkin beers I’ve tried.  I think I actually liked this variety better than traditional Shock Top.

For dinner we made this tofu quiche.

Same recipe as last time, though I did leave out the milk this go-round.

It was quite good; very cheesy.  A good hibernation food.

How did you celebrate the start of October?

Baby Tonight, I Got A Question For You

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Hi, readers friends!  This morning afternoon I have a few simple requests to ask of you:

  1. Don’t ask me how work went on Saturday night, or why I haven’t posted since then.  (terrible, I’ve been sulking)
  2. Don’t ask me what time I went to bed the last two nights. (5am)
  3. Especially don’t ask me what I’ve been doing that kept me up so late.  (“Food Network Star” reruns)
  4. Name that song!  (from the post title)

My final request is more of a strong suggestion – make this recipe for pumpkin muffins!

These guys are so crumbly and moist!  They are especially delicious when crumbled over 0% Fage (with blackberries and 1.5 tsp maple syrup).

This is quickly becoming my favorite breakfast.  It helps that the combo contains all of my favorites.  Let’s play a quick game, tell me what your favorite is (I’ve bolded my choices) –

  • strawberries, blackberries, or blueberries
  • Fage or Chobani
  • honey or maple syrup
  • blueberry muffins, bran muffins, or pumpkin muffins

Buffalo Buzz

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Yes I would rather be eating Ben and Jerry’s Bonaroo Buzz, but the frozen coffees I made Adam and myself this morning were a nice substitute!

For two (large) coffees into the blender went:

  • 8 ice cubes
  • 12 oz of coffee (cinnanut blend from Wegman’s)
  • 6 oz of Silk Light Vanilla Soy Milk
  • 3 Tbsp white sugar

I imagine that a Vitamix would turn this into velvet, but my $40 blender made something pretty great too.  I’ve been craving fair-style frozen lemonade all Spring and this had a similar texture.

I volunteered to pick up an extra day shift at work today so I needed a breakfast that would carry me through 10:30-4:30 carrying trays up and down stairs.

Greek yogurt is always the answer to a breakfast that will carry me through.

0% Plain Fage topped with 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup, a crumbled pumpkin muffin, and a big handful of blackberries.

I originally bought the berries for a a baked pomegranate chicken dish (which turned into bbq chicken sandwiches and is currently sitting in my crock pot) but I’m so glad I ate them raw because they are sweet and delicious!  Buffalo readers – Wegman’s on Amherst has these babies at $4 for 2 pints right now.

What’s your favorite summer fruit?  My answer will be plums (or pluots, mmmmmn!) if I ever find them in season!

Here, Here!

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It’s here, it’s here; I’m so glad to finally be writing this dinner post!  This specific meal has been on our meal plan for the longest time and I have kept pushing it back again and again.

One day we went out for sushi instead of cooking.

The next day we went out for Thai food instead of cooking.

Yesterday I read a book instead of cooking.

Today I was ready to get back in the kitchen.  First I had to get my gym on though.  I didn’t leave the house until near 10am (a solid 19 hours since yesterday’s lame dinner) so I split a Cliff Bar with Adam as I headed out.

Then I hit up the elliptical for a nice workout, with no leg pain!  45 minutes on the elliptical (included warm up and cool down) at level 6 random; with lots of sprint intervals.  Followed bya quick round of strength and stretching.  Sometimes it’s annoying that the gym is a 30+ minute walk away (it’s towards the back of campus), but it is nice that I’m forced to walk it out after every workout.

Once home I got to cooking, fueled by a chocolate protein smoothie.

For two (mine is the slightly larger one) – 1 frozen banana, 6 ice cubes, 1 packet of chocolate protein powder, 1/2 packet hot chocolate mix, and 1 cup of skim milk.

It was tasty and filling, but maybe a little too filling because it sort of gave me a tummy-ache.

On the cooking agenda were: These pumpkin muffins.

I halved the recipe and skipped the sugar on top.

A sauce recipe I’ve been mulling over for weeks, 1000 Island BBQ Sauce.

Recipe included at the bottom of this post.

Plus turkey sloppy joes made with the bbq sauce.

And steamed kale and zucchini sauteed in the bbq sauce.

All of the above made for a tasty dinner.

The sauce was sweet and tangy and perfect for joes and veggies.

1000 Island BBQ Sauce, yields ~ 2 cups

  • 1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz
  • 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp molasses
  • 2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
  • 3 Tbsp ketchup
  • 2/3 cup sweet pickle relish
  • 1/3 cup Miracle Whip or reduced fat mayo

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 15 minutes until beginning to thicken.  Store refrigerated.