Today Was The Day

by Emily

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?

2Oct2011

10/90 Work To Sleep

by Emily

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?

14Jun2011

Baby Tonight, I Got A Question For You

by Emily

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

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

10Jun2011

Buffalo Buzz

by Emily

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!

1Jun2011

Here, Here!

by Emily

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.

4Dec2010

Deck the Halls

by Emily

Christmas time is here…

Well, not quite, but we are watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and we decked the halls so it’s feeling pretty festive around here.

We don’t have much in the way of decorations (and we didn’t even put them all out), but even a few little touches will help you feel seasonal.

Even my breakfast felt a little special.

I made the traditional stove top oats (with 1/4 cup oats, 1cup skim milk/Silk almond milk, a pinch of salt, and 1 banana) and stirred in ~1/3 cup each canned pumpkin and low-fat cottage cheese.

Topped with some coconut “snow.”

Yummy, yummy. Although somehow I made waaaay too much; I left almost half of it in my bowl.

We’ve got a lot of work and fun on the agenda, got to get to it!

Have you decorated for the holidays yet?

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my OhNuts! giveaway!

1Dec2010

Pumpkin Stuffed French Toast

by Emily

We woke up to snow this morning, on December 1st natch!

Adam was giddy as a schoolboy, but the one of us that walks 30-minutes to school was less thrilled.

I consoled myself with a mug of mint cocoa.

This was amazingly thick (you cook it with water) and rich without being too sweet. I’m looking for another packet asap!

I also consoled myself with this –

I’ve tried explaining to my parents that 25year-olds typically don’t get advent presents, but I’m sort of glad they don’t listen! 😉 The box was loaded with seasonal goodies and even smelled like peppermint.

When it was STILL snowing two hours later I knew I needed to bring out the big guns for breakfast.

When I got a Nature’s Pride Shipment from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s Program last month I shoved one of the loaves in my freezer and promptly forgot about it.