Tag Archives: rice

Beans and Bloggers

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Lunch and dinner today had a lot in common; both involved beans and both were inspired by some of my favorite bloggers.  I think my favorite thing about blog-land is all the fun things I’ve been inspired to try.  Green monsters, running a half marathon, Greek yogurt, nut-butter crusted parsnip fries……

Lunch came from Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point.

I love sweet potatoes and I love baked beans, but I don’t think I would have come up with pairing them all on my own.  I used one big sweet potato (13oz) and 1/2 cup of baked beans.

The flavor combination was perfect, I prefer sweet potatoes sweet to savory (i.e. with butter and brown sugar to ketchup or salsa) and this was the perfect blend.  Plus I loved how much it looked like a papaya 😉

I spent my afternoon cleaning, confirming that I don’t have skin cancer, and running errands; all whilst listening to Regina Spektor, who(m?) I’m obsessed with.  I did not get ready for our trip tomorrow, but that’s what tomorrow is for, right?

Dinner was supposed to be a bean burger recipe that Allison of Green Dog Wine raved about.  But one of the reasons I’m obsessed with Allison is that she does cool things like go out to restaurants in the middle of the week, so when the husband begged for suggested Cheesecake Factory I wasn’t too hard to convince.

The best thing about CF is the bread.

I had one slice of each type.  As well as one of the husband’s avocado eggrolls.

For dinner I went with the spicy cashew chicken.

This meal is sooooooo unhealthy but we got to CF like once a year so I’d rather get my favorite thing.

I only ate half of my meal though, because I knew we were ordering dessert.

White chocolate caramel macadamia cheesecake.

The husband and I split it, minus the whip cream.

It was great to go on the mid-week date with the husband!  And my food was delicious, but honestly when it was all said and done I wished I had just ordered a salad.  I’m finding it’s harder to enjoy “splurges” when everything I eat is unhealthy (duh!).  I am so ready to get back to the old me!

Veggies eaten today: 1.5cups, not exactly killing this goal

What is your favorite item from the Cheesecake Factory?

When Life Hands You Lemons

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It’s been a packed (but great) day and I have to leave the house in exactly 15minutes to pick up the husband from a hospital shift so I’ll make this speedy.

Our last night of family time was a lot of fun.  We watched “Zombieland” which was actually pretty fantastic.  I did some pretty serious damage on these chips and salsa (2-2.5servings) before I told the husband to take them away from me.

Then I switched to a much more munchable baby carrots.

For breakfast the boys hit up McDonalds, I want to call their food greasy but it’s hard to judge when you ask for a diet coke before 10am.

I was starving so I made up 2packets of oats.

Mmmn!

We streeeeeeetched out our goodbyes but finally got on the road around 11, our trip was an easy 4hours.  When it was my turn to drive I ate a medium french fry from Wendys.

Really quick – the point of the vegan challenge is sooo not to eat french fries but my only options were fast food that I could eat while driving and I was starving.

I can’t even tell you how proud I am of the dinner I pulled together with our empty fridge.

It was so healthy and tasty, rocked my socks!

Quick quick – while the husband cooked some balsmatti rice I marinated 1/2 a package of chopped tempeh in apple cider vinegar and tamari.  Then I sautéed an onion on the stove, and added in a can of collard greens.  Finally I poured the tempeh and marinade into the skillet, added a pinch of cornstarch and cooked.  The bowls were rice, greens, tempeh, + your choice of seasonings.  I did a big dollop of chilli garlic paste.

Perfection!

I had to drop off the husband at his shift and then I did some restocking at the grocery store.  On my drive home I grabbed a  Simply Lemonade.

For $1.50 I was pretty darn impressed with this.

And it was the perfect match with the baking I did when I got home!

Lemon Poppyseed Cookies from Eat Drink and Be Vegan.

I had two and was, as usual, blown away by the awesomeness of the recipes in that book.  Sweet and tangy and yummy.

Now I’ve got to split, I hope y’all had a great weekend!!!

Hello from Ohio

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Howdy folks, happy Friday!  Sorry for such a late post, our internet has been going in and out intermittently and this morning it was finally just off.  We picked a great weekend to be at someone else’s house computerwise, right now I’m using my brother-in-law’s internet 🙂

It’s been kind of long crazy day.  I did manage to make it to the gym though.  Since dinner last night looked like this –

I ate a pack of Luna Sport Moons on the walk to the gym.

I then I did a quick 2miles (we were already running late) on the treadmill.  All total with warm up/cool down my stats were 2.3miles and 25minutes.  I was so happy to have gone but now my left leg hurts so badly.  I’m going to do a post soon talking about the running situation.

After a quick shower, and an even quicker packing session, we were on the road.  We got into Ohio right at dinner time so we met the family at a local restaurant.  I was so hungry I ate my fruit bowl before I even remembered to snap a picture.

Even though we were at an “American” style dinner (the rest of the family had bacon cheese potato skins and french onion soup) I managed to find a good vegan meal.

Roasted veggies with terriyaki sauce on garlic rice.  I demolished it.

My sil and niece actually had a small party to go to after dinner but my bil took Adam and I to pick up some movies and games.  We stopped at the grocery store for snacks and booze and I managed to pick up some produce as well.  I have a bag of snacks from homw though so I’m not too worried about the food situation.

As I write this I’m nibbling the other half of my vegan chocolate peanut butter rice krispie.

I might have a few snacks while we all hang out but I’ll do a recap in the morning.  I hope everyone’s week ended well!

What is your favorite diner order?  I order blintzes whenever I can, or a good tuna melt.  I’m also a big fan of handspun black and white milkshakes.

A Lunch Post?!

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I knew this would be a busy week, but now it feels like things are just dropping out of the sky!  Last night’s late night issue was the power to our fridge randomly being shut off.  Fun times 😦

I planned on getting up to eat breakfast before lab but my pushed back bedtime meant I just wanted to sleep in.  I packed a (peeled) minneola to eat in class,

and bought a small package of peanuts from a vending machine as well.

Lab went well, but I’m incredibly worried about how difficult the post-lab calcuations are going to be, the minute my test is done on Friday I’m going to have to start working on that.  First I have to get through tomorrow’s Anthropology test though.

Lunch was a semi-Asian affair.  I had a serving of mini chicken egg rolls,

and a Thai-Style chicken Lean Cuisine.

I also randomly had a forkful of peanut butter,

and a (too) big bowl of cereal.

Now I am about to head to the Spot for a quickie study session with Caroline.  I’ll be back for dinner.

Do you have vending machines nearby at your job or school?  Do they tempt you to make unhealthy choices or are there any quality options available. 

Finally!

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Woo – who; today has been a rollercoaster!  I’ve gotten good news and bad news, but mostly Adam and I have had a blast on his day off.

Today was my first day back at volunteering and it was good to be “home” again.  I didn’t eat before I went and by the time I headed home my legs were actually shaking with hunger!  Adam and I made plans to go to our friend Benji’s house so we hit up a favorite neighbor of his, Wegmans!

I know the salad bar got jealous but the sushi was pretty fantastic.  I got the brown rice veggie combo with carrot, cucumber, and avocado.

Veggie sushi with brown rice is just so tasty!  I ate 3/4 of the package.

Wegmans has a section where you can bag your own candy so for dessert I got 50cents’ (tenth of a #) worth.

I ate an adorable gummi heart,

but mostly I stuck to sour worms.

I also tasted Adam’s Divine Bar, milk chocolate and hazelnut.

We had a fun time with our friends, we all played some rounds of Eucher and then Danielle and I studied while the boys shot zombies.

Sadly, when I got home the bad news started – my laptop is broken!  I actually typed this post on the husband’s computer.  Mine works ok for a bit but then the screen randomly goes black.  So frustrating!!!  My goal is to back up all my files by Wednesday and try to get a new one (which we can’t afford) this weekend 😦

I created a GoogleCalendar and a Todoist list for both of my classes today and my ‘puter issues made it take forever.  I started freaking out as the clock moved closer and closer to gym closing time but thankfully I managed to make it for a work-out!  My first, in fact, of many since my 1/2 Marathon is officially in 47days!

It was good to get back on the treadmill;  5min walk + 10min run + 2min walk + 10min run + 2min walk + 4min run + 2min walk = 3.1miles.  By the by, I’ve created a GoogleDocument to log my training over the next 7 weeks, you can check it out here.

Running often kills my appetite and my crappy sports bra gave me a killer neckache so I’m actually going to shower and haul myself to bed without dinner.  I hope everyone had a good MLK day!

What is your favorite kind of gummi candy?  I love anything sour but my all-time favorite is coke bottles.

Stupid Squared

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It was a fun day, but not a very successful one 😦  Adam’s poor time management actually caused me to miss the gym, for the second day in a row.  I now have 50 – 2 days until my half and I’m freaking out.  But I guess I can’t criticize the hubby about watching the clock as I’ve been a major instigator in the fact that it’s after 1am and we’re still up.  And I still have to shower!

Hanging out this afternoon I snacked on a serving each of these guys –

Cedar’s makes the best Spinach Dip I think I’ve ever had.

Dinner was a “Cooking Light” recipe, Mao Pao Tofu.

The only substitution I planned was subbing turkey for pork.  Unfortunately I’m an idiot and I used double the meat called for but now at least we have extra leftovers.

It was good but not great; the texture was there but the seasoning was off.

Adam brought home his dessert – Brownie Obsession – from dinner last night and it ended up being so tasty that I ate more than half of it, whoops!  We devoured so quickly I didn’t get a picture so I pulled one from the website.

Delish!  Between SNL, Modern Family, and Scrubs we laughed hard it’s a wonder I managed to swallow my food 🙂

What is your favorite tv comedy?  Scrubs is near and dear to my heart (I mentioned it in my wedding vows!!!) but Modern Family has really blown me away.

Mish Mash Meal

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Fabulous day alert!  After so many weeks of being a lazy blob I am seriously relishing my productivity.  Post office, studying, dinner; check, check, check!  Plus I rocked two of my grandma’s old necklaces which always makes me happy.

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The line at the post office was redonculous, but a very sweet package from my mommy was a nice reward at the end.  Lots of excitement ensued; I got a  bunch of magazines, new book,

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a baggie of my favorite candy of all time ever (I ate one of these without photographing), fruit gels,

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and a P.E. T-shirt from my old high school!

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After my not ‘rain nor snow’ing I met up with a friend from Chemistry to study.  We got in a solid 5 hours!  As much as we accomplished, I didn’t do so hot on the practice tests so I know I have my work cut out for me this week.

I got home around 8:30 and got right to dinner.  My goal was to use up leftovers, frozen food, and my Annie Chun’s sample.

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The end result was seriously socks rocking!  I was in absolute heaven eating this plate.

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I heated chipotle pepper oil over medium high heat.  Added 2 chopped Apple Maple Sausages (I froze these a few months ago) and 2 big handfuls spinach/arugula and a small handful shredded carrot.  Next I added leftover roasted butternut squash from yesterday and 1/2 of the black pearl rice.  Then I stirred in a splash each of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame seeds.  Finally I broke in 1egg and stirred.

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I couldn’t get over how good this was!  What a mix of flavors and textures, lots of sweet/savory which I love.

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For dessert I tried some of my new candies.

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They were good, but the Sunkist ones are the best.

We started watching “Glory Road” while we ate and I’m enjoying it.  See you tomorrow!

Have you made any good mish-mash meals lately?

Dinner Was Roasted and Orange

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Not exactly my proudest day, you can go ahead and just call me Super Sloth!  I felt like crap so I took a solid 2hour nap.  Plus I’ve been so. frickin. hungry. all. day.  I feel like all I did is eat and sleep but there was literally no reprieve from the hunger!  After the many meals I posted earlier I ate this before dinner.

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Healthy.  But I’d been wanting chips all day so I finally walked to the gas station and went with it.  And that was before dinner mind you!

Dinner was actually pretty good.  It started yesterday when I marinated 2blocks of tofu overnight.  Usually we make 1block at a time but then there is never leftovers for more than one person.  Since I have class tomorrow I decided to try a double batch.

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Asian Orange Tofu Bake, serves 6

  • 2blocks extra firm tofu, drained and lightly pressed
  • 2C orange juice
  • 4T cornstarch
  • 1T soy sauce
  • 4T rice vinegar
  • 2T chipotle oil (or any spicy oil; you could also use evoo and just add red pepper flakes)
  • 1T honey
  1. Slice each block of tofu into 7 pieces and set aside.
  2. In a large tupperware, stir together oj and cornstarch to mix.
  3. Add the rest of the marinade ingredients and stir to combine.
  4. Place the tofu slices in the marinade, making sure each piece is fully covered.  Cover and let sit for 2hours or overnight.
  5. Remove slices from marinade and place in a single layer on a foiled and sprayed baking sheet.
  6. Bake for 25minutes at 450*.
  7. ***Tip – we reserved our leftover marinade to cook with broccoli later this week.

I also roasted up some butternut squash with salt, pepper, and a bit of nutmeg.  I was so excited to see this convenient package at Wegmans.

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Finally, I used a sample from Annie Chun’s on the side.

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These rice bowls have two servings each and are quick, healthy, and tasty.

Dinner was very starchy and orange upon second glance, but rather good.

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I’m not gonna lie though, I’m still hungry.  The husband just said I was a fatty!!  I will most likely have a snack, even though I know that it’s probably unnecessary.  I am also still pretty sleepy, so in spite of the nappage, I will probably go to bed early tonight.  We’re wild and crazy around here 🙂

Tomorrow I must go to the gym, work on Chemistry, and go to class (duh).  What are your big goals for Hump Day?

*****Updated – You know ate more crap!  I used a Wholly Wholesome sample to bake cookies!

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