Tag Archives: pumpkin

Fright Night

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This Saturday has felt very holiday-esque. Technically, it was a holiday –

but I was feeling more Haloweenie. Perhaps because this has been looping through my head all day?

The husband was right, I am now a total “Nightmare Before Christmas” addict!

The day actually started rather early for a Saturday; I signed up to volunteer at a local health fair today and my shift started at 8am. Milkshake for breakfast? Don’t mind if I do.

I made my first pumpkin pie through a straw of the season. Just look at that perfect pumpkin pudding color –

I was pretty jazzed about it, clearly.

My volunteer shift was nice and easy, mostly stuffing gift bags and greeting people.  A lot of the other volunteers bailed so I ended up getting some one on one time with the president of the club; she is a senior in the program I hope to get into so it was great to hear her advice.

Pretty soon the husband picked me up and we headed to the cafe in Wegmans to get our study on. And our lunch on.

Scoop of buffalo and curry chicken salads,

and some green beans and roasted veggies.

I was still feeling super hungry after lunch but I didn’t want to waste any more time eating so instead I bought a coffee.

Half regular and half decaf pumpkin pie with skim milk.

We got a couple solid hours of work done too. And the grocery shopping too. Get excited about my dinner posts next week – I’m doing “Sandwich Week” and it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Not so fun? Our apartment is a frigid 64*. I drank a honey vanilla chamomile tea to warm up while I studied.

We had pumpkin pasta leftovers for dinner.

I swear, this stuff is even more amazing the 2nd day.

We ate an early dinner because just after 6 we piled into the car. We had season tickets to Darien Lake Amusement Park and today was the last night of Fright Night.

Adam and I ate a Divine milk chocolate hazelnut bar during the drive.

And I snacked on a serving of Halloween jujus while we explored the “horror.”

(Please excuse the terrible cell phone photos) There wasn’t a lot to it, but Fright Night ended up being a lot of fun.

Our favorite was the haunted house; I don’t scare easily, but they definitely startled me a bunch of times.

The real fun though was the 20minutes we wasted in the parking lot looking for our car 😉

Have you been to any haunted houses this season?

Frozen Feet

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Has everyone done the Friday dance?  I’m sure glad for the weekend!  I actually have a ton to do the next few days so I made sure to include some relaxation in today’s plan.

My morning was a little too relaxed; leaving my warm bed feels bad, but running around like a headless chicken trying not to be late feels worse!  After I went to the trouble of buying a banana last night I couldn’t even get it together to make breakfast this morning.  Also, 30minute walk in 40* weather, not a sandals time.  Who knew!  😉  At least my tortured toes gave me a good excuse to buy a coffee before class.

A medium skim latte with sugar-free English toffee syrup. 

We had a guest speaker this morning who works in pediatric nutrition; she was fascinating!  The teacher of my Friday course is super energetic and excited about Dietetics and the speakers she brings in have all been just as enthusiastic.  They make me really excited about my future career!

After class I met up with my group; we have a poster presentation on November 19th and we are already 2/3 of the way finished.  I had ~ an hour between our meeting and Orgo so I made the best use of the time possible – I went to the gym!

I told you guys if I take a day off it turns into a month!  I had been going regularly (and loving it!) and after my I’m sick/I have 5 tests/OMG week I haven’t been in 16 days.  I know that I feel 100% better when I’m working out regularly so I’m going to try really hard to make sure I stick with it.  I didn’t have a ton of time today so I tried to use it wisely on the treadmill –

  • 5minute warm up (walking)
  • 20minutes running
  • 3minute cool down (walking)

In my 28minutes I covered 2.58miles, not terrible!  I’m actually running a 5k in a couple of weeks so hopefully that will keep me motivated.

I didn’t ever get it together to get food so I bought myself a Lemon Lime G-2 post gym.

It kept me hydrated but by the time Anatomy started my hunger had zapped my energy.  My class notes today are baaaaad.

A freezing, sideways raining walk home later, and I was heating up a Chicken Enchillada Suiza Lean Cuisine.

I needed some time to reheat while I refueled so Adam and I caught up on a bit of tv.  Has anyone seen the most recent CSI: Las Vegas?  Terrifying!  I also snacked on some Halloween candies,

a small handful of Southwest Cashews from Sahale Snacks,

and the last honey vanilla caramel apple.

The granny smith was the best yet!  I really, really, really recommend trying these.

Then it was time for business, we got out our fall decorations and finally switched out our summer and winter wardrobes.  My toes were oh so glad to see my Uggs!

Before catching up on “Bones” (love) we did find time to make a pretty snazzy dinner.

That’s Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage from Rachael Ray 30 Minute Meals.

We basically followed the recipe, although we used a bit less meat and pasta than called for.  Actually, we didn’t use meat at all; I couldn’t find any turkey sausage without pork casing so instead I swapped in some Gimmie Lean vegan meat substitute.

We also used the big can of local canned pumpkin I bought when I was panicking over the possible Libby’s shortage.

The flavor was spot on, but the texture wasn’t quite as velvety as the good stuff.

But the dish was still damn tasty.

This is one of the recipes Adam and I used to make all of the time when we were living in Brooklyn, it’s an old favorite.

I still have to shower and make our grocery list before bed, but I’m hoping to turn in before 11.  Amid a heap of homework, I signed up to volunteer at a health fair tomorrow.  What’s on your agenda for the weekend?

Pumpkin Powered

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Happy Hump Day!  Sorry for bailing on you guys yet again, apparently I have not quite kicked my cold – I spent yesterday in another hours long afternoon nap!  On a similar note: I have not been to the gym in more than a week (and it’s killing me) so at this point I might as well wait until I am fully well; my back to sweat date is Friday.  I might try to sneak in some strength/stretching before then, but no walking home in sweaty gym clothes!

I had to get an immediate start on work today so I made myself a bowl of “power-up pumpkin” for breakfast.

I topped a 1/2cup of 0% Plain Oikos with 1/4cup canned pumpkin, a bit of homemade chocolate pb, and two small crumbled pumpkin butterscotch cookies.

The flavor combo was divine!  My favorite part is the awesome texture of cookie crumbles melting into the yogurt.  Plus, maybe it’s a mother’s love thing, but don’t even try to tell me this bowl isn’t still pretty once it’s stirred –

It’s like pumpkin tie dye!

I think it helped to power me up too; I took notes on the online lecture we had to watch and finished my Orgo Lab work for tonight.  Gotta get back to work!

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveway!

A Sick Day from Life

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Welcome to the work-week!  Sorry to leave you hanging, I had to take a “sick day” from life this weekend.  The Heart Walk was a ton of fun, but ultimately a bad idea.  I started with a fever and after spending that much time outside – you’d be surprised how long it takes to walk a 5k – I was done.  I slept for 4.5 solid hours Saturday afternoon!  We did manage to have a bit of fun this weekend though….

Trying out this “Hurricane Simulator” at the Mall – strange! – while getting plain tart froyo.

Using the food processor to whip up a batch of homemade chocolate peanut butter (no recipe as of yet, it still needs tweeks).

Eating tons of Butterscotch Pumpkin Cookies.

Mostly we cuddled up on the couch and watched tv though; it was heaven! ❤

I knew today needed to be all about school work – I have a huge Anatomy Lab test on Thursday – so I started my morning with a cure-all (hopefully!) yogurt mix bowl!

0% Honey Oikos Greek Yogurt topped with canned pumpkin,

gingerbread granola,

homemade chocolate pb,

and a cherry pumpkin on top!

I’ve got a giveaway coming with lunch, be sure to stop by!

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Scotty Doesn’t Know

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We had an impromptu date night tonight; the husband called up another couple on a whim and invited them over for dinner and “Eurotrip” watching.  Actually, Michelle was feeling sick, but the boys and I whipped up a pretty good meal as a threesome!  (maybe we got in the cramming position…..clearly I’m still a bit delirious!)

Before that though, we made a few trips and finished all of our grocery shopping for the week.  Hunger final hit while in Target so I grabbed a single serving pita chips and red pepper hummus from the cafe.

De-lish-us!  I am continually impressed by Target. 

For dinner I made Chicken Cutlets with Fig Compote (recipe from Family Circle),

Adam made some roasted sweet potatoes,

and Patrick made a side salad.

We did good!  I took small servings because my cold has made my appetite all wonky.

And I still couldn’t even finish what I took, I left ~1-2bites of everything.

I didn’t actually fit in a stretch session, but we got in a pretty good workout of side-splitting laughter!  “Eurotrip” is one of my favorite movies; “here’s a fun fact – you made with your sister man!”  Actually, in order, my favorites are –

  1. Super Troopers
  2. Eurotrip
  3. The Hangover
  4. Knocked Up

I’m a bit of a guy in my entertainment choices 😉

We’ll say I worked up an appetite chuckling, because I did find room for dessert!

I’ve been waiting to make Rachel’s Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies since I bookmarked them months ago!

Mmmmn, you can’t go wrong with pumpkin and butterscotch and the texture of these was awesomely cakey.

Tomorrow morning I’ve got to get up early to go to a 5k Heart Walk, yikes!  I’m going as part of a service group I joined so I can’t bow out, let’s hope I’m feeling healthy in the morning.

Be honest, did I get “Scotty Doesn’t Know” stuck in your head?

Table to Toast

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Letting things go to waste is not in the spirit of the Thanksgiving Challenge, so breakfast this morning was all about the leftovers.  To use up I had – bread from my grandma’s birthday lunch, and pumpkin from the cupcakes I made.  To use it up I made…..

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French toast.  I used 2eggs and a splash of skim milk because I like it super eggy.  Topped with pumpkin, cinnamon, and maple syrup.  Delish.

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I did not make it to the gym this morning, the husband gently suggested I catch up on sleep.  We were up at 1am because he was studying for a test and it’s possible I had a mild, sleep-needing, fit; complete with incoherent rambling about my glass of water.  Apparently I was thirsty?!?

There’s lots to do around here, so I’ll see you for lunch.

What were the last leftovers you saved?

Pumpkin Pick-Up

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I’m back, sorry for being flakey!  I’ve been feeling under the weather this week, as well as under-motivated.  I would say three days were enough though, it is time to snap back 🙂

I got up at 7 this morning and took a nice leisurely shower to start off my day.  Breakfast was all about Pumpkin Pie Through a Straw.

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For this one I did 1C pumpkin puree, 1T maple syrup, 1/2C skim milk, 1serving plain fatfree Oikos, and a dash pumpkin pie spice.  It is super filling, and less than 300calories.  If you plan on making this yourself be warned – it is more like pudding than a smoothie.

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I took a break from studying to write this post but now I’ve got to get back.  I’ve got lots of things I hope to accomplish today:

  • finish 2 sets of post-lab work
  • write my pre-lab for today
  • make 2 sets notecards for my quiz next week
  • eat up some of the fruit that’s all over the fridge
  • make dinner
  • recitation/lab at 5-8:50

Have you had your first pumpkin of the season yet?  How did you enjoy it?  I’m looking forward to a pumpkin spice latte.

Tastes of Fall

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Another productive day, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the streak continues!  Plus, I’ve full-force started eating “October food,” another trend I hope to continue 🙂  After my breakfast post I attempted to do a  little work, but Adam and I realized we were way too distracting to each other at home,

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so we packed up our stuff and went to a coffee shop to work!

All my diet soda talk in the last post got me craving one, so that’s what I had!

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The husband got a fancy shmancy hot chocolate.

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We were at The Spot, so you know I wanted a Mike’s Sandwich, but when I thought about all the food fun I had planned at home I decided to resist.  We studied for 4hours and I got a huge chunk of Chemistry work done. 

On the way home I had the husband drop me at the gym.  It was not so fabulous.  My foot still hurts and my calves were really really tight.  I really need to talk to a professional about strength-building/stretching exercises for my calves, knees, and hips.  In the end I did 2.83 miles on the treadmill, and tons of stretching, for 36minutes and 361 calories.

After my shower we closet swapped our summer stuff for winter duds.  Folks, we need to go shopping.  I have almost no winter wardrobe.  In NYC I dressed inappropriately and just dealt with being cold and uncomfortable, but that is not going to fly here in Buffalo (I’ll die!).  We scheduled in a big mall trip for next weekend – p.s. we budgeted for this already.

Then, the foodie fun began!  I made my first pumpkin pie through a straw of the season.

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1/2C 2C “>Stoneyfield Farms Lowfat Vanilla Frozen Yogurt, 1C pumpkin puree, 1T maple syrup, 1/2C skim milk, dash cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.

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So good!

While I was drinking “pie,” I started baking pie!  I made a Maple Spice Pie from one of my favorite cookbooks, Pie, Pie, Pie: Easy Homemade Favorites, by John Phillip Carroll.  I used a Wholly Wholesome Organic Whole Wheat Pie Shell.

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Small blip, apparently you need maple syrup for a maple pie, who knew?!

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After an emergency run to the store things were back on track.  It had to set, so I started dinner before diving into dessert.  This combo came (basically) from the September issue of Health (recipe here).  Tofu and eggplant with cabbage over soba noodles.

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I swapped tamari and worchestire (sp?) for miso and sesame seeds for sesame oil, but other than that I followed the recipe.  It was wonderful, I loved the soba noodles and the texture of the tofu was great.

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I had more pumpkin alongside dinner, Wolaver’s Organic Will Steven’s Pumpkin Ale.

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And then finally it was time for dessert!

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The pie was good, but super messy.  The inside tasted like caramel apples to me!

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I took a huge slice and actually made myself a bit sick  😦  Now it is time for bed, I’ve got to get my sleep if I want another productive day!

What fall foods have you enjoyed this year?