Epic Meal Time

by Emily

I’m not talking about the Epic Meal Time, though those guys are awesome.

Muscles Glasses is a hottie.

I’m talking about yesterday’s meals. They were literally epic (you’ll see).

Breakfast was more nonexistent than epic, because I stayed in bed reading a book until the last possible minute. When I was utterly distraught over finishing Kathy Reichs’ Temperance Brennan series my mom bought me the first book in several murder mystery lines. Yesterday I was finishing up Tess Gerritsen’s The Surgeon. It wasn’t terrible – I loved the way she switched point of view with each chapter from a different character’s perception – but I don’t plan on reading any more of hers. I actually have the latest TB book now but I’m making myself wait to savor it.

I had to be out of bed and out the door at a specific time because my friend Hillary and I were presenting our research on Ginkgo Biloba at a poster presentation.

Last major assignment of the semester, done!

After I changed out of my suit Adam and I went to lunch. We took a nice walk down Elmwood (a little over a mile) to Nickle City Cheese & Mercantile, an adorable new cheese shop.

The space looks great and they carry all sorts of cool lines that I’ve read about and wanted to try.

Adam and I got lunch and had a picnic outside.

We had a Sprecher Cherry Cola,

Mac and cheese with gouda,

and a grilled cheese of pimento cheese on pumpernickel with red onion.

Everything was great, but the pimento cheese didn’t have as much flavor as I was hoping for. We definitely plan on going back for fancy cheese.

On the walk home we stopped at the neighborhood candy store for mint M&M’s.

They are one of my favorites but I was feeling pretty satisfied from lunch so I only ate half of them.

The rest of our afternoon was spent running the rest of our weekend errands. Many took us to the mall.

Our final errand was at Cold Stone (legit!) where Adam and I split a kid’s chocolate frozen yogurt with butterfinger.

I like that Cold Stone has an option with less than 200 calories per small serving but this tasted a little “empty” somehow.

For dinner we went on a fancy date night! We had an amazing Groupon for Epic Restaurant and Lounge.

They brought us bread with oil to start.

And Adam ordered the Filet Sliders – with house-made sea salt and vinegar potato chips and smoked gouda fondue as an appetizer.

I ate a few chips dipped in the fondue and it was awesome.

Per usual, we did some sharing with dinner. I got the Grilled Rock Lobster Tail – with lemon and asparagus barley risotto drizzled with a garlic shallot butter and brocoli rabe.

He got the Cedar Plank Salmon – maple candied carrots, fresh arugula, smoked gouda mashed potatoes.

Gahhhh! Everything was sooooo good! Adam’s favorite bite was the lobster tail and my favorites were the broccoli rabe and the fatty end of Adam’s salmon. It was a great meal and a great time.

We extended the fun with Monkey Bread for dessert.

Oh, and we ordered a bottle of Prosecco with our meal.

Which is why you’re getting this post in the morning 😉

26Apr2012

Toasted Marshmallow Cheesecake Oatmeal (For Dinner)

by Emily

My book and beers were great last night but I woke up in a funk. Adam and I both just didn’t want to get out of bed. I snoozed for so long that suddenly there wasn’t enough time to both go to the gym and make the fun breakfast I was looking forward to. I knew I had to get it together before my bad mood ruined the whole day so I tried to pinpoint what was making me cranky – I was cold, I was tired, I was hungry.

Time to problem-solve! I decided I would make a mug of hot chocolate (calories, warmth, caffeine), go to the gym (endorphins), and eat my fun breakfast for dinner (anticipation).

The cocoa was pretty weak but my workout felt rewarding. 10 minutes on the treadmill (1 mile) and 20 minutes at level 6 random on the stationary bike (7 miles).

I had to hurry, but somehow my hair air-dried perfectly today!

Often one side curls under while the other flips up so this felt very fortuitous since I had to look nice for clinic.

For breakfast I cashed in the last of my Ashker’s smoothie Groupon on the walk to school.

I got a Lemon Zinger sans ginger; aka a carrot, peach, mango, and lemon smoothie. It was great!

Lunch included more carrots so it’s a good thing I’m a fan.

Also a Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Thin with two slices of Applegate Farm’s Smoked Turkey and a wedge of Light French Onion Laughing Cow.

And a 120-calorie pack of Skinny Cow Dreamy Clusters.

These were on super-sale so I took a chance and I ended up quite liking them. The serving was small but the caramel was nice and I liked the bit of crunch.

But I probably should have packed an additional item for lunch because I was inhaling this 100-calorie bag of kettle corn the minute I walked in the door at the end of the day.

My clinical hours today were at a Diabetic Education Course. The RD let me teach the portion on reading nutrition labels. She said I seemed knowledgable and confident which is awesome because on the inside I was screaming my head off! I’m considering becoming a certified diabetes educator (cde) some day so it was neat to get a taste of the experience.

I had to get through night class and then I finally had my much-anticipated ~~breakfast~~ dinner. What combination was I so excited about?

Toasted Marshmallow Cheesecake Oats!

So flipping good.

cooked: 3/4 cup skim milk, pinch salt, 1/4 cup oats

stirred in: 1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese (cheesecake), 4 toasted marshmallows (marshmallow!)

topped: 1 Tbsp melted Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter (crust)

The toasted marshmallows stirred into the mix and the bowl was like a giant, toasty, marshmallow!

When I originally planned this meal for breakfast I wanted to make sure it was nutritionally ready to get me through the day so I plugged the ingredients into an online calculator –

Not bad, not bad at all; especially for something that tasted like dessert.

What is your favorite decadent breakfast?

22Apr2012

Still Searching for ‘Rita

by Emily

Did you have a successful Saturday? Ours was sort of a wash. I did my to-do’s and had some fun with the husband but I also felt sick and spent many hours curled up in bed. I guess I’m just glad I was awake long enough to do what I needed to do.

For breakfast the husband took me to the new juice bar he spotted.

Code Blu was a win! Cute space and good juice.

*Hulk smash*

I got an “@Green.com” – spinach, kale, parsley, romaine, cucumber, celery, lemon, and apple.

Delicious! I liked how much it tasted like a lemonade. And there was combo on the menu with kale and watermelon so we’ll definitely be back.

We didn’t grocery shop at all for this week (only soda, cottage cheese, and fruit for Adam were purchased) so our errands were very quick but I was still complaining of hunger by the time we were done. I ate this handful of peanut m&m’s to try to stave off more whining.

Bletch; these only led to more complaining; why do they have such a terrible aftertaste?

When I woke up this morning the only thing I could think of was margaritas. I don’t even like tequilla so it was an odd craving but it was a strong one. Unfortunately none of the Mexican restaurants nearby were open for lunch (sidenote – I am flipping out over Cantina Loco‘s menu, I need to go there immediately). Then I remembered the free appetizer coupon I had for TGIFriday’s. I knew the margarita wouldn’t be the best ever, but I figured it was better than nothing.

Nothing would have been better. Adam and I split this skinny margarita and neither of us were fans.

The only redeeming thing I can say is that it had only 120 calories so at least I didn’t waste a meal’s worth of calories on the worst drink I’ve ever had. The sweetness level was sickening. Now I need to keep trying until I find a margarita that quenches my craving; I’m up to the task!

With our free appetizer coupon we got an order of pretzel sticks with beer cheese.

Beer cheese and pretzels are both always good things.

I ate 1.5 pretzels with cheese. We took one pretzel home for later but we probably should have just split it because the rest of lunch was a bust.

We split a cranberry jalapeño turkey reuben, no butter on the bread.

I loved this sandwich when I attended the tasting a few weeks back, but I couldn’t even finish my half today. It was too spicy and totally tasteless all at the same time.

I did eat most of my side salad with balsamic though.

Our meal came with dessert for only a dollar more so we took a chance on the “Oreo Madness.”

Yuck again. Adam actually ate most of it but I was unimpressed, and I’m the one who loves Oreos.

By the time we got home I was totally ill, a fact for which I blame the skinny sour mix in the margaritas. Not my best idea. But after a much-needed nap we pulled it together and switched out our closets and spring cleaned the storage containers. Go us!

Dinner ended up being a bag of popcorn.

No complaints there!

8Apr2012

I’m Relleno

by Emily

Hello from Ohio. We’re not here for a happy reason but I’m happy we made it here safely.

We stayed up late catching up on TV last night and I got hungry again. I served myself a big bowl of cereal with skim milk; Cheerios and some raisin/bran/crunch thing.

I had breakfast food for my late-night snack and dinner food for breakfast.

A grilled cheese with Cabot 50% Reduced Sharp Cheddar and Sriracha mayo,

and a sliced honey crisp.

This meal was great but my next bite was terrible. I stole a piece of Adam’s chicken bites from McDonalds –

Ewwwwwww! So fried tasting and gross.

My dad flew into Buffalo this afternoon and we picked him up at the airport and headed off on our road trip. Since we had a “road-guest” we stopped for an actual dinner.

Torero’s served us some damn fine Mexican food! Pretty healthy too! Here was my plate –

Black beans,

rice,

and the Vegi-chiladas. “Steamed carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, yellow squash and zucchini rolled into two flour tortillas, topped with our salsa Mazatlán and garnished with Monterrey Jack cheese. Served with sour cream, lettuce, and tomatoes.”

I ordered my enchiladas sans cheese because I also had a chile relleno waiting for me on my dad’s plate.

Stuffed peppers are usually my favorite Mexican dish but this guy was a little too fried for me. I ended up eating about a third of everything, except I ate 1.25 tortillas and every single bite of vegetable.

I ate two Samoa Jumbles in the car for dessert.

Still good.

Where is your favorite road trip stop?

3Apr2012

Humbolt Fog

by Emily

Last night’s sleep session was a disaster. Usually my sleep issues are related to falling asleep but lately if I get woken up I can’t fall back to sleep either. The dog woke us up in the middle of the night and it took me at least another hour of tossing and turning to get back to rest. The husband brought home some sort of bug from the hospital and my throat was killing me.

I overslept today and the morning was rushed but I managed to do what I needed to do, mostly. I was heading to the gym after 9 am so sticking with my monthly goal I ate a small breakfast before I left. A few sips of strawberry Powerade Zero,

and a half of a Vanilla Almond Luna Bar.

I didn’t have much time at the gym but something was better than nothing. 20 minutes on the elliptical at random level 7.

After a quick walk home and an even quicker shower I made a Lemon Cookie Smoothie for breakfast.

The last time I made it was apparently a dark and stormy night and I wanted a chance to get some ~~better~~ less awful photographs for the recipe page.

It probably wasn’t my best use of time though; I made it halfway through my smoothie before I had to throw it away and rush out the door. I didn’t have time to pack lunch and having half a smoothie digesting in my stomach just made my hunger stronger all afternoon.

I got out of clinic a bit early and when I spotted a Manhattan Bagel on the drive home it felt like an oasis in the desert.

I was eating the chips that came with my meal before I was even out of the parking lot.

But chips only seemed to anger the beast (aka my stomach) and I ended up eating my bagel on the ride home!

Eating while driving is sort of nice because instead of dreading red lights you can use them to shove food into your face. And my bagel was quite enjoyable; I got a veggie sandwich on a rye bagel.

Red onion, lettuce, tomato, banana peppers, veggie cream cheese, and a little bit of chipotle mayo. I thought the veggies were pretty weak but the bagel was super chewy and good.

I had my 2nd to last shift at work this evening and then I came home to an easy salad dinner.

I needed a vehicle for a veggie, a fruit, and this amazing looking cheese, and salad fit the bill.

This Cypress Grove Humbolt Fog Chevre was delicious. Sadly the blue cheese and goat cheese were in layers and not the hybrid mixture I was hoping for, but both were quite tasty.

Along with chunk of cheese I had romaine lettuce, groats, chopped honey crisp apple, and Stubbs BBQ Sauce for dressing.

Those ingredients sound strange together but it worked.

I’ll see y’all in the am for some running and some baking!

28Mar2012

Tired Haus 3

by Emily

Man, oh man, am I tired! My insomnia seems to be coming back but for now I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the problem is just the vacation/visiting/excitement. It’s my mom’s last day in town and we are heading to the airport at 4am.

On a short walk with the dog, Starbucks dopio espresso with the rest of the cup filled to the rim with skim milk.

Wegman’s hot bar for lunch with my mom.

Veg – roasted veggies, asparagus salad, a piece of chili garlic eggplant.

Protein – a piece of fried tofu and 2 steamed chicken dumplings.

I had to go to two classes today but this afternoon we took a nice walk down Elmwood.

A pear was eaten on the walk,

along with two Buttered Rum Raisin Cookies.

Plus two more cookies that snuck into my mouth while I was in the container.

During our walk we also stopped at Organic 3 Cafe for juice.

My custom blend was carrot, cucumber, double spinach.

We headed back to Lagerhaus 95 for my mom’s final meal in Buffalo. Good food was eaten, with lots of sharing. Basil truffle fries.

These were fine as far as fries go but not amazing; nothing like the truffle fries here.

Haus Cheese Board.

The four cheeses were provolone, smoked gouda, dill havarti, and a sheep’s milk cheese. It was good, but that’s obvious because it’s cheese.

And speaking of cheese, I got the special for dinner – Crispy Duck Mac and Cheese.

The mac was made with smoked gouda and was topped with panko, truffle oil, crispy duck, and goldfish crackers for crunch.

Mmmmmn! Smoked gouda is always a win and the goldfish ended up being surprisingly nice. I usually shy away from duck but I did enjoy the few bites I took that included it; it was a lot like beef jerky! I finished half of the dish or so and the husband is very excited to have the rest for dinner tomorrow.

I also had a few bites of his truffled wild mushroom panini.

And we split a side salad with lemon caper vinaigrette.

The dressing was good but my salad was missing the herbs from last time. All in all it was a fun “last” meal. Quite decadent too, what with all the cheese and truffle oil!

And now I’m getting up in 5 hour so I should skedaddle!

28Mar2012

Triple “O” Long

by Emily

Today was a lo-o-ong day! Out of the house from 9 am to 11 pm; whew. Not necessarily an exciting day, just a busy one. Class –> driving my mom to the mall –> clinic –> picking my mom up from the mall –> work –> Target for Easter basket goodies, the one fun stop of the day. I felt bad abandoning my guest all day but she did apparently have a very fun dinner at Moe’s with the husband.

Since our fridge is beyond bare and I was basically too busy to eat all day this recap will be quick. I ate a Peanut Honey Pretzel Luna Bar during Statistics.

It was good but not ridiculously good like I was expecting it to be.

And I inhaled a sandwich from the campus book store before work.

“Bourbon maple turkey, cheddar cheese, and herb and spinach spread on a whole wheat lavish bread.”

And a Starbucks Double Shot Energy in Coffee was split with the husband.

I’m a fan.

Tomorrow bring on all the food, especially the produce!

26Mar2012

Miles To Go Before I Sleep

by Emily

Technically the miles were already traveled but sleep somehow feels very far and very urgent! I had some great bites today but I’m going to keep my descriptions quick in favor of bed.

Breakfast – cereal mix with vanilla almond milk.