Spinach Salad With Soft Boiled Eggs

by Emily

Dinner tonight was a delicious salad. I had to get in my greens on Earth Day!

A bed of baby spinach topped with a sprinkle of salt, radish greens, blue cheese crumbles, and two soft-cooked eggs.

I use Jenna’s recipe for soft-cooked eggs and they come out perfectly every time.

The flavors all melded nicely and I used creamy yolks in lieu of dressing. Plus, I fit every single food group into one meal (I had a fruit smoothie and slice of ciabatta bread on the side)!

What is your favorite way to replace the dressing on a salad?

15Apr2013

Today

by Emily

Some of the things I thought today –

Man, it has been a looooong time since I last blogged.

I made the right decision. Part of the reason I’ve been blogging AWOL is because I was making a giant, life-changing decision and I’m ~~pretty sure~~ positive I made the right one.

The end of this semester is going to be insane. We have two business plans to create in the next month and we were told to expect 40 plus hours of work each week on top of our clinical hours.

Some of the things I did today –

Went to my first day of clinical practice in long-term care.

Took a glorious, 70* walk on Elmwood with my husband.

Attended night class. With the curve I scored a 100% on the first exam!

What I ate today –

A mealy apple.

A packet of Artisana Cacao Bliss.

Chocolate Almond Coconut Clif Mojo Bar.

A low-fat strawberry milk.

A (salted caramel chocolate nougat) candy from the latest Yumvelope.

Veggies from Globe Market, ~.25 lb each.

Thai carrot salad,

and Greek vegetable salad.

Lays Chicken and Waffles potato chips.

Dinner.

Amy’s Alphabet Soup,

and a soft pretzel with yellow mustard.

I also thought a lot about the tragedies at the Boston Marathon today. If you or anyone you are close to were effected, please know that you are in my thoughts.

9Apr2013

Vegan Chicken Salad Sandwiches

by Emily

Recently Naysoya contacted me with the opportunity to try their newly reformulated Nayonaise line. I’ve enjoyed their vegan mayo in the past during my Vegan Month challenges, so I happily accepted. Pretty soon, a box showed up in the mail.

They sent me 2 free jars to sample – Vegan Nayonaise and Vegan Nayo Whipped.

Here’s what they had to say (product information): “Nasoya recently perfected Nayonaise for a smoother, creamier texture and it now comes in new distinct varieties. Original Nayonaise is an excellent alternative to traditional mayonnaise reformulated with a more delicious flavor than ever before. NayoWhipped, the line’s newest variety, has a tangier taste for those who prefer a whipped sandwich spread. The entire line is vegan, a good source of vitamin B12 and made from expeller pressed oil. All products are also fortified with Omega 3 ALA for added nutrition.”

And here’s what I have to say (disclaimer): I was provided these samples free of charge. I did not receive compensation for writing this post, I just really wanted to share my tasty recipe. All opinions are my own.

I haven’t tasted the whipped product yet (in non-vegan life I prefer Miracle Whip to regular mayo so I’m quite looking forward to it) but I’ll be sure to share my opinion when I do. I was impressed with the reformulation of the Nayonaise. The new product is in fact smoother than the previous version.

I’ve seen recipes in the past {on those Mayo tv commercials?!} where mayo is used in place of butter when grilling a sandwich and I figured that application would be a great way to taste out the Nayo. I also used it as the binder in my vegan chicken salad. I think the recipe turned out quite well; the Nayo gave the toasted bread a great crisp texture.

Vegan Chicken Salad Sandwiches, serves 2

7 oz vegan “chicken” nuggets (I recommend Wegman’s Don’t Be a Chicken line if you have access to it)
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
3 celery ribs, cut in half vertically then sliced
2 green onions, sliced
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp plus 2 tsp Vegan Nayonaise
4 slices bread of choice

Cook nuggets according to manufacturer’s instructions. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then dice.
Combine cooled chicken, almonds, celery, green onions, salt, lemon juice, and 3 Tbsp of Nayo in a large bowl and toss to combine.
Divide salad evenly between two slices of bread, then sandwich with the remaining slices. Spread 1/2 tsp Nayo on the outer side of each slice of bread.
Preheat a large grill pan over medium-low heat. Cook sandwiches until toasty, 1 – 2 minutes on each side.

To my vegetarian readers: Nasoya has teamed up with Vegetarian Times to celebrate the vegetarian lifestyle by having people share their Veg-iversaries. By sharing the day you went veg, you can enter to win a Nayonaise Party Pack for 10 people + a $100 Visa gift card!

Do you follow (or have you ever followed) a vegetarian or vegan diet?

8Apr2013

Me Jane

by Emily

Doesn’t it feel too late in the week to still be Monday? Anyone else? I have several personal/professional/school things going down at the moment and honestly my head is spinning. This post is going to have to be “Me Emily. Me eat food. Food good.” style.

Coconut Delight Raw Revolution bar from the bottom of my purse for breakfast.

Pear.

Dannon Oikos Cafe Latte Greek Yogurt,

with Justin’s Maple Almond Butter swirled in.

The last of the bbq pop chips (1.5ish serving) with dip.

Also Cheetos.

A new recipe for dinner.

Roasted green beans,

with a vegan chicken salad sandwich. <– me promise to share the recipe tomorrow

Drinks whilst brainstorming with a friend.

Jameson diet coke x2, lemon drop x1.

Bed.

6Apr2013

Weekend Welcome Back

by Emily

Hello again! I know I kind of dropped off the face of the earth. This semester has been busy. I don’t have a lot to say tonight, and my pictures are poorly lit and blurry, but it was a good day so I wanted to share.

I slept in this morning; we’ve got a serious stayed-up-too-late-watching-Battlestar-Galactica-every-night-this-week sleep deficit going. I ended up eating “breakfast” during the afternoon at work. Chobani Vanilla Golden Crunch Flip.

I love most of Chobani’s flavors but I have really disliked the Flip line*. This was my 2nd try with this flavor and both times the vanilla yogurt was so tangy I was actually a little afraid it had gone bad. *the Honey BeeNana one was really freaking good

I also drank a Dr. Pepper 10.

The first in a fun line-up of beverages today.

After work I met up with a friend for bubble tea; strawberry green tea with both kinds of boba.

We hung out for the rest of the evening and had a fun night. Next was drinks at a bar in Allentown. I enjoyed this Genesee Cream Ale more than I was expecting to.

It was basically water, but at least it was quite refreshing. Plus it is locally made.

Finally we headed to Seabar for a late dinner.

I was very disappointed that they were out of the (the) lobster ramen bowl, but I rallied with three small plates.

Seaweed salad.

Pickle cucumber salad over sushi rice.

Udon noodle bowl served with tempura shrimp.

All three were quite tasty but the cucumber salad was my favorite.

I brushed my teeth the minute I got home and now I’m actually blogging from the bed! Sweet dreams!

26Mar2013

Charleston, Day 1 And 2

by Emily

Hello from the South! I’m blogging in a spring-ish 50-something degrees (it’s better than Buffalo!). Actually, I’m blogging from Adam’s computer this trip, so I’ve got to keep things quick. We are having a terrific, delicious time.

Breakfast day 1 – brunch at the famous Hominy Grill.

I got a(n extra spicy) bloody mary.

And a bowl of she crab soup.

Charleston is famous for its she crab soup; this bowl was super creamy and loaded with pieces of crab. I adore anything with sherry.

We ordered a piece of buttermilk pie for the table.

But it was much drier and less custard-y than we were hoping so we all just took a small taste.

It was a rainy first day so we did lots of inside and driving activities. We got in some good sight-seeing and scoped out a few spots to hit up during the rest of our trip.

One of our stops was Whole Foods for stocking up on goodies. <– chocolate coconut butter packets, it’s good to have you back in my life!

There was froyo next door.

I didn’t really love any of the flavor offerings so I got a small cup of cheesecake yogurt with tons of popping boba.

Can’t go wrong with boba.

We went to Hyman’s Seafood for dinner and they brought us complimentary hush puppies.

Best hush puppies ever; they had the perfect amount of sweetness.

We also started with fried pickles.

Lots of fried food in that dinner. I got french fries as my side,

with steamed shrimp.

Every component of my meal ended up smothered in tartar and cocktail sauce. I’m a girl who loves her condiments.

I was exhausted by the end of the day and crashed into bed hard. Let’s pretend it was the 20 minute stationary bike ride I started the day with, and not the heavy dinner!

Day 2 we skipped the gym and slept in. Instead I made it a healthy morning by starting my day with an apple.

Then we headed to Bakehouse for breakfast.

The offerings were as delicious as the space was adorable. The cookies and bars looks amazing but the closest we came to them was splitting a caramel marshmallow.

I also did a toasted marshmallow cappuccino.

Adam and I shared breakfast.

We had a mixed berry scone.

And a piece of Greek turkey strata.

It was a great breakfast.

We spent our second day exploring on foot. King Street and Meeting Street provided lots to look at.

We even got to see dolphins!

I couldn’t get a picture to save my life, but we saw lots of waving flippers and even a mama/baby combo.

Tastes from the day included…. Praline,

a drop of the spiciest hot sauce available (I stuck a toothpick in it and touched it to my tongue; I honestly didn’t think it was that hot!),

honey,

an Earl Grey macaron (<– squeeee!),

a KIND bar,

and some watermelon Zots from one of the many old-time candy stores.

All good, but I am definitely a lunch eater; when we got back to the hotel to change for dinner I was starving. Enter the perfect snack –

Diet coke and Cacao Bliss? Yes please!

But I sure was glad I saved room for dinner. We had an incredible Southern meal at Magnolias.

Bread with ridiculous cream cheese herb butter came when we sat down.

And we ordered a pimento cheese plate to start.

Sadly, the cheese wasn’t quite as sharp as I was hoping for, but everyone else at the table loved it. Pimento cheese was at the top of my to-do list for the Southern vacation though, so I hope to try again tomorrow.

I ordered a Bellini to drink (champagne/peach nectar/and a touch of grenadine),

but ended up swapping with Adam halfway through for his vodka/creme de cassis/pineapple juice martini.

For dinner I went with the “Fresh, Local, and Vegetarian.” You can’t go wrong with a name like that!

Sautéed spinach, fresh corn salad, roasted carrots, fried green tomatoes with jalopeño pimento cheese, and mashed potatoes.

We were too stuffed for dessert, though the menu listed a cream cheese pecan brownie with white chocolate ice cream that I’ll probably be dreaming about!

In fact, I’d like to be dreaming now; goodnight!

Have you ever been to Charleston? Is there anything we just can’t miss on our last day?

23Mar2013

Break Begins

by Emily

Did you know that this was my last day before spring break begins? Of course not, I didn’t tell you. In fact, I was so tired this week that I kept forgetting about it, but then I was very happy every time I remembered. We are doing something fun for break, but I’ll tell you more about that later because right now I want to get in bed.

I mixed things up and packed breakfast this morning. Stonyfield Chocolate Greek Yogurt.

I ate on the walk from my car to the hospital.

Lunch was salad leftovers. When I made our dinners last night I went ahead and made four bowls at once – his & hers lunch and dinner.

My maple vinaigrette dressing was so good.

I also packed a Cascadian Farm Oats & Honey Crunchy Granola Bar (a free sample).

And I drank a coffee with creamer in the afternoon.

I had some really interesting patients today; lots of tube feeds, which I love.

When I got home I snacked on some BBQ Smart Fries.

Looking back I feel like I ate (more than) enough food today, but I was so flipping hungry this afternoon. A friend and I had plans for dinner and I could not have been more excited when she called me to go.

First though, we walked our dogs and had a drink.

The Honeycrisp Apple Shock Top is good, but not quite as good as I was expecting.

We headed out aimlessly down Elmwood and thankfully my friend thought of the “The Place” for dinner because I probably would have wandered down to Allentown!

My foodie co-worker has been raving about The Place’s buffalo chicken mac and cheese for weeks and I knew what I was going to get before I even sat down.

I was definitely hungry – I ate almost half of that skillet full of mac and cheese!

I thought the dish was ok, not all that exciting, but Adam polished off my leftovers in a matter of minutes and declared that we have to go back immediately, so apparently it were a hit with him.

After dinner my friend and I walked back up Elmwood (it felt so nice to take a walk!) to meet the rest of our group for drinks at Mezza. I am totally kicking myself that I didn’t get a photo of all of us, but I did manage a shot of my amaretto sour.

I’m an embarrassment. And I’m pretty sure the (cute) bartender thought I was special because I ordered a diet coke for my 2nd round and he refilled my glass free-of-charge at least three times. I basically wanted to move in.

I stopped at Starbucks on the way home for something warm to drink while I wrote this post.

Tall/toffee nut/black tea/skim latte.

Adam and his friends are in the middle of a poker game in the living room but I’ve got to fold… myself into bed.

My goodnight gift to you? Shots of the dog chillaxing.

Squee!

21Mar2013

Eggstra Special

by Emily

This is an extra-special post – it’s the first one I’ve managed to get up all week!

I had a giant presentation to give on Tuesday, an important quiz on Wednesday, and on Monday the dog had another series of 2 am seizures. Yay. <– sarcasm

Since the start of this rotation all of my classmates have reported getting to bed by/before 10pm but I’ve stubbornly, stupidly stayed up until at least 12. I’d been doing ok, but my weeks of lost sleep and this week’s trifecta of late nights hit me hard on Wednesday. I wandered around in a daze all day yesterday and then hurried home and got into bed at the record-breaking hour of: 7pm! I got up for an hour or so around 9pm, but went back to bed for an amazing 10 hours total!!!

I felt much better today. So of course I’m staying up late. What can I say, I’m an idiot.

After that long introduction, let’s do this quickly… Coffee at the hospital.

Dark roast with french vanilla creamer. The sweetened creamer is not a habit I want to get into, but while I’m somewhere without milk it is fun.

I had cafeteria pizza for lunch, but I didn’t think about taking a picture until after my plate was bare. Whoops.

Plus candy.

And when I got home I had this bowl of goodness.

A serving of Liz Lemon Froyo, a Dannon Oikos Toasted Coconut Vanilla Greek Yogurt, sliced mango, and fresh blackberries.

It was yumtastic.

For this evening’s fun, we dyed Easter eggs.

Except that it wasn’t fun at all.

Because my “hard-boiled” eggs were raw. And we were all hungry.

But they were pretty, and Adam salvaged a few by breaking the partially cooked eggs into a skillet and making us dinner.

We had fried eggs,

with white toast with Earth Balance.

And big salads – baby spinach, pink salt, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and homemade maple vinaigrette (1 tsp sweet hot mustard, 2 Tbsp maple syrup, 2 Tbsp rice vinegar; shaken and split into two portions).

With quinoa dark chocolate for dessert.

Goodnight, Webster!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: salad

Spinach Salad With Soft Boiled Eggs

Today

Some of the things I thought today –

Some of the things I did today –

What I ate today –

Vegan Chicken Salad Sandwiches

And here’s what I have to say (disclaimer): I was provided these samples free of charge. I did not receive compensation for writing this post, I just really wanted to share my tasty recipe. All opinions are my own.

Me Jane

Weekend Welcome Back

Charleston, Day 1 And 2

Break Begins

Eggstra Special