Stir-Fried Soup

by Emily

I made it through the first day of a new semester! I forgot what day it was and pressed snooze a couple of times this morning, but I did manage to make it to the gym for a quick workout.

25 minutes on the elliptical, level 6 random.

I cut it close but the husband offered to drive me this morning (both walking and driving myself eat up 30 minutes) so I had time to shower and grab breakfast to go. A Chocolate Dipped Coconut Luna Bar,

and an iced coffee with skim milk.

It wasn’t just any iced coffee. Do you remember when I blogged about wanting to try Chameleon Cold-Brew Coffee? They now sell it at Wegman’s!

It was even better than I had imagined. Smooth, not at all bitter, and I swear with the skim milk I tasted hints of chocolate?!

I breakfasted during my first class and the caffeine boost was much-appreciated. This semester is going to be hard. I’m only taking a few classes (the minimum number of credits versus having to petition to take extra credits almost ever other semester) but there is a ton of work and the concepts are all higher level.

Good thing I got some work done in the break between classes and my shift at work. I also made lunch.

A salad of romaine, flax, light honey mustard dressing, a little shredded gruyere, and a crumbled slice of turkey bacon.

Plus apple dippers.

A sliced Pink Crispin,

with a melted mix of peanut butter, Biscoff, and Heath bits, ~ 1 Tbsp of each.

Delish!

I worked from 2 -7 and then came home and wandered around all evening in a tired, sore-backed haze. That is not going to be able to happen as the semester progresses. But overall I think I did a good job of getting things done today.

I even pre-made some of the components for tomorrow’s dinner. I snacked on a serving of Barbara’s Baked Cheese Puffs while I cooked.

They were an impulse buy at the co-op that paid off; didn’t tasted “baked” at all.

Dinner didn’t happen until 9:30 but it was worth the wait. Super worth it. Did you make my Thai-Inspired Coconut Peanut Soup yet? I hope so, because if you did you are halfway done with this killer spin on it – Stir-Fried Soup!

Stir-Fried Soup, serves 1

1 Tbsp evoo
1 oz cashews
1 serving Thai-Inspired Coconut Peanut Soup
4 dashes Sriracha
1 large egg

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Toss in cashews and toast. Add soup leftovers and Sriracha and saute, stirring occasionally, until crispy. Scramble in egg. Serve and swoon.

It was the tastiest thing I’ve eaten in weeks, I swear to God.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve done with leftovers?

21Aug2012

Awkwardly Awesome

by Emily

Hello again. We had a family crisis this weekend so I was away from the blog, but now it’s all good and I’m all back. Also we squeezed in a party and watched the dog squeeze his face into the last of my milkshake.

Obviously there were good part to the weekend too.

I had lunch for breakfast today.

Baby carrots,

some Libby’s Tropical Fruit Salad,

and a sandwich.

Turkey, pepperjack cheese, and tons of pickles on a sandwich thin.

Lunch for lunch was a salad.

Romaine topped with peanut sauce, nutritional yeast, buckwheat groats, and sliced Crispin Pink apple.

With Honest Tea Half and Half to drink,

and Cookie Butter Fudge (x2) for dessert.

Oh yes I did! Recipe is coming tomorrow.

I started watching the first season of “Awkward” online while I ate. I loved it! Might be my new favorite show. I watched while I wrote this post too, which is why it took so damn long!

I worked until 7pm today and was stupid tired when I got home. Dinner seemed impossible and I ended up getting hot bar at the co-op at 9:30. Vegan “cheesy” broccoli and orzo, an Asian cabbage salad, and some maple roasted tofu and veggies.

I know the picture is gross but it was all delicious and I felt fortunate to have skipped my planned dinner.

Six Hershey’s Simple Pleasures for dessert.

I plan on going to bed as soon as this episode of Awkward is over. I also plan on going to yoga at 7am. The 2nd plan is totally dependant on the first; we’ll see what happens.

Have you been watching Awkward?

15Aug2012

Buffalo Blue Cheese Black Bean Burgers, From Yesterday

by Emily

The past 24 hours have been odd but gratifying. Mostly because I’ve done odd but gratifying things, like frying up a batch of bacon yesterday at 5:30 in the morning.

I ate three hot slices of turkey bacon and they were delicious. And now you know our wonderful reason for having bacon in the house.

I ate a bagelwich with my bacon.

A Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Thin with two slices of turkey and 1 oz sharp cheddar.

In addition to bacon and breakfast before 8 am, I also cleaned the kitchen, registered for a conference, made a batch of pupsicles, and worked out.

1 hour hot yoga class. I love how even if you’re not very good at yoga it’s still a nice workout. P.S. Wanna know why girls who do yoga are so skinny? For safety. My boobs practically smoother me to death in rabbit pose!

After yoga I walked the little man.

We’ve had him more than a year now and I’m still amazed by how well he stops at cross-walks.

Pre-lunch snack was a plate of pickle slices.

And dessert first, since I had to make a last-minute trip to the store for a forgotten ingredient.

Trader Joe’s cookie butter dark chocolate bar, does that even need a description?! Though I will say that I freaking adore the little bites of crunch embedded throughout the bar.

An epic journey of three stores in my sweaty yoga clothes later, we had panko. And shortly after that, lunch.

Roasted green beans,

and Buffalo Blue Bean Burgers.

(recipe included at the bottom of this post)

In the afternoon I worked. It was a good shift, I actually worked several hours by myself for the first time. It’s always fun when someone trusts you to hold down the fort.

But then on the walk home I got a migraine. I didn’t take my medicine in time and I ended up being down for the count the whole evening. I curled up in a fetal position on the couch and Adam brought me to bed at 10. Unfortunately by then my head felt better and my stomach was twisting with hunger pains. I probably should have gotten up and eaten but instead I flopped around for several hours before falling asleep.

When I got up this morning cereal was the last thing on my mind; I wanted savory and lots of it.

This salad fit the bill.

With the bites I took while I filled my bowl, this salad contained: a romaine base, 2 Tbsp light honey mustard dressing, 1 oz gorgonzola crumbles, 2 oz honey roasted peanuts, 2 slices turkey bacon, and 1 chopped Crispin Pink apple.

With a Green Dragon Tea from Honest Tea for drinking.

I also ate the last serving of Maple Pancake and Bacon Ice Cream.

That stuff was ridiculous good. Pretty please go make it and see for yourself.

I’m actually about to eat another small dessert now too. It’s a recipe I’m working on though, so no pictures for now. Hope everyone else is having a sweet day!

Buffalo Blue Bean Burgers, serves 4 – 6

(2) 15.5oz cans reduced-sodium black beans
1/2 cup, plus 2 Tbsp buffalo wing sauce
2 large eggs
1 cup panko bread crumbs
3/4 cup gorgonzola cheese crumbles

Preheat the oven to 450*. Foil and spray 2 baking sheets.
Empty bean cans into a colander and rinse thoroughly – this is a heart healthy step that helps to further reduce the sodium in this recipe.
Pour rinsed beans and 2 cups wing sauce into a blender and puree. If you have a rickety blender you may want to do this in two batches.
Empty blender into a large mixing bowl. Add rest of wing sauce and eggs and stir. Stir in panko and cheese.
Using your hands, form 12 patties out of the bean mixture.
Put patties on prepared sheets and bake for 20 minutes. It is not necessary to flip the patties during baking.

11Aug2012

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

by Emily

This is a “Do as I say, not as I do” post. The past 48 hours have been… strange. I feel like crap mentally and physically and I’ve been eating crap. I’ve been weirdly, intensely thirsty all day; like I want to pour a milkshake down my throat all day long (which I basically did!). I get sort of depressed every fall about missing teaching and I might be panicking a bit about the start of my last year of school. So I’ve been eating only crap and lots of crap. Lots of crap because apparently crappy food isn’t all that filling. Do we think I said crap enough times for this ~~post~~ month?

as I say –

Don’t drink your calories.
It’s okay to have a treat, but probably not more than 3 1 a day.
Skipping breakfast might set you up to make bad choices the rest of the day.
Sometimes you should eat fruits and veggies just for the nutrients, even if you’re not feeling them at the moment.
It’s ok to feel hungry sometimes.

as I do –

Friday’s “breakfast” was wasabi trail mix, ~5 oz worth in total.

And two pieces of the amazing sea salt caramel my parents brought from Canada.

Lunch was a quick run to the co-op hot bar during work.

Chicken salads and veggie salads.

The kale was the best (take note, Emily!)

I did another try at a caramel macchiato in the afternoon, this time at The Spot.

Does that look like an iced caramel macchiato? No. And it was disgusting anyway; there were at least 5 inches of straight foam. I took three sips and dumped the rest down the sink.

I didn’t eat enough during the day and that is where the bad dinner decisions started. Adam had to pick me up from work so we could run errands across town that took forever, I started to have a tantrum, and somehow we ended up at Arby’s for small Jamocha shakes.

Um, and also mozzarella sticks.

I hate mozzarella sticks. But these were actually pretty good.

I’ll start Saturday’s recap by saying this – Friday was healthy in comparison. But at least I finally had a sweet coffee win.

I gave up on caramelmacchiatos and moved on to a tall white mocha coconut frappucinno.

For lunch at work I packed a plain 0% Greek yogurt with a honey stick,

and a Fiber One chocolate chip cookie.

I also bought a Synergy Grape Chia Kombucha.

And on the way home I had this, because two milkshakes a day is totally normal and healthy.

Seriously though, this was actually a good decision because it was outstanding. This sign has been calling to me for days –

“Emmmmmmily. ‘Greek iced coffee milkshaaaaaake.’ You’re not even sure what that means but you need it.”

But I still didn’t eat any real food and I ended up eating half of this candy bar while we were on a never-ending trip to Target.

I did eat a real food dinner, but it is dark and stormy (honestly it is, I’m not trying to be cute) and my pictures were disgusting. Go ahead and try to imagine a plate of chicken nuggets and baby carrots. I’m also 90% sure that you should imagine some popcorn in the near future too.

Who’s up for fruits and veggies on *Monday? Me! (*Note – I would say tomorrow but tomorrow my in-laws are coming to take us out for bbq for my belated birthday lunch and lets be real.)

5Aug2012

Cootie Catcher Sunday

by Emily

Today was all about family fun time. My uncle, aunt, and cousin (and her adorable children!!) came over for the day to visit.

I had a great time playing with the two little girls. Not even gonna lie, I loved getting a chance to color again.

And I even remembered how to make cootie catchers.

When can I have babies?!

I stayed up late knitting and slept through breakfast but I was ready for lunch.

I made an amazing grilled cheese out of rye bread, provolone, pimento cheese, and thick-sliced turkey.

Plus fruit salad on the side.

Chocolate for dessert.

Our last dinner continued the streak of tasty meals.

Salad with green goddess dressing,

and a serve-yourself main dish. I put brown rice, celery, onion, cherry tomato, pineapple, coconut, cheese, and chicken gravy on my plate.

With a light Arnold Palmer to drink.

We ended our last evening with a final hour bike ride.

It was the best ride yet because we spotted deer –

We saw the fawn nurse! Too cool. I wish you had been there to see them, Adam!

Tomorrow we drive back to Buffalo and early the next morning my parents fly home. I’m planning in advance on not blogging tomorrow. You can assume I’ll drink a giant diet pop and eat chips if I can find some good ones. See you in Buffalo.

4Aug2012

TJ, Totally Jazzed

by Emily

The past few days have been a ton of fun. I’ve done a lot of eating!

Yesterday morning I got started on one of my 27 things.

I knit a few things as a kid and it seemed to come back to me pretty quickly. My grandma has had to help with a couple of disasters though.

I had yogurt for breakfast and moved on to another kind of yogurt for lunch.

Self-serve for the win. I did a mix of desserty flavors topped with all of the chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel things.

‘Twas good, but whenever I go crazy decadent I always realize that I like my plain tart with fruit and boba the best.

Our Friday activity was The Greene. We went for shopping, walking, and people watching. And eating. We got Turkish for dinner at Pasha Grill.

They gave us delicious bread with sun-dried tomato oil for dipping. My piece, x2.

I should have held off on the basket because I ended up needing bread with my dinner as well.

I ordered the cold appetizer sampler as my entrée. [clockwise]

Hummus – pureed chick peas with a hint of garlic, tahini, fresh lemon juice, and olive oil.
Pilaki – pinto beans with carrots, green peppers, and diced potatoes in a light tomato and olive oil sauce.
Tabuli – cracked wheat tossed with tomatoes, sweet onions, fresh peppers, parsley, lemon juice, and olive oil.
Haydari – thickened homemade yogurt with fresh dill, mint, garlic, and walnut.
Eggplant with tomato sauce.
Babaganush – smoked eggplant puree flavored with tahini, olive oil, and garlic.
Ezme – finely chopped tomatoes, onions, walnuts, and hot peppers, mixed in olive oil and herbs.
Dolmasi – grape leaves stuffed with rice, pine nuts, raisins, and flavorful herbs.

Delicious, delicious, delicious! The babaganous and ezme were my favorites. I did a pretty good job on my meal too.

Plus 3 more pieces of bread for dipping. My only complaint about the dish is that it didn’t come with pita bread.

Iced Vanilla Rooibos Latte for dessert.

Plus a small square of chocolate,

and tastes of nougat that my parents brought from Canada.

End scene.

I started today with a 1 hour bike ride with my parents.

I had a small plate of food at home to tide me over.

Baby carrots,

and pretzel bread with beer cheese.

Then I ate my way through our day’s destinations.

A giant diet pop with strawberries at Sonic.

Fun stop #1 was the 2nd Street Market.

I got an arepa with cheese, black beans, and plantain.

I’ve always wanted to try an arepa so this was fun, but a little too “bready” for me; I left the bottom half of my corn cake behind.

Then I spotted Sweet P’s and my mom and I split a sea salt caramel popsicle.

Yuuuum!

Fun stop #2 was Trader Joe’s.

We loaded up a cart and I also got some brown rice sushi for the road.

TJ’s has some of the best packaged food ever but their sushi always has too much rice. I ate half and saved the rest for later.

Dinner was an insane summer feast.

Cantaloupe,

my grandma’s delicious chicken salad (she always makes it with toasted pecans and grapes and this time she added dried cranberries),

unfried green tomatoes,

and buttered corn on the cob.

I mmmmmmmmmn’d my way through the whole meal but the corn practically killed me!

I had a big cup of Heath Bar ice cream for dessert.

Good as well, duh.

Tomorrow is our last day of family time and then on Monday we hit the road. I’m sad to be leaving my grandma but glad to be returning to my boys.

3Aug2012

EWT

by Emily

Eats:

Starbucks White Chocolate Energy Double Shot.

A strawberry shake (made with fresh strawberries!) split with my dad.

A rice bowl. Brown rice, black beans, chicken, sautéed onion and pepper, lettuce, corn salsa, spicy sauce.

Pasta dinner.

Salad.

Whole-wheat spaghetti with marinara, ground chicken, peppers, and mushrooms.

Bread with butter.

2% Fage with Strawberry for breakfast this morning.

Workouts:

1 hour bike ride – lots of gliding but on a high gear – both Thursday night and Friday morning. My butt is soooo sore!

Thoughts:

I miss my boys like crazy. My grandma’s dog sits on the top of the couch just like Webster.

Finally, a message to my husband –

2Aug2012

Three Days Into Your Trip

by Emily

Hello from Ohio. I know I haven’t blogged in a few days, these old folks are keeping me busy!

Adam had to stay in Buffalo (he’s going to be a doctor so we don’t feel bad for him, though we do miss him!) but Tuesday morning my mom, dad, and I logged 8 hours in the car. After some tearful goodbyes, of course.