Tag Archives: sandwich

Southern Style

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The other day when I made the 1000 Island BBQ Sauce I knew I’d need to think of a good way to use it.  Adam and I put our heads together and we decided that bbq pulled chicken sandwiches would be the way to go.  This morning I put some chicken in the crockpot, and this evening we took a quick walk to pick up some key supplies.

I also munched on some Dirty BBQ Chips on the walk to get myself in the mood.

Once home it was easy as pie to shred the chicken, toss with the bbq sauce, and place on a bun with thin sliced red onion and bread and butter pickle slices.

Tasted as good as pie too.

On the side I cooked up some shredded brussels sprouts with black truffle oil and browned butter.

Divine!  Please do try out the recipe, it turns brussels sprouts into a whole new vegetable.

This is exactly the kind of meal I look forward to on a summer day.

Easy, tasty, and healthy.

We watched “That 70’s Show” while we ate; we recently discovered it on Netflix Instant Watch and I’m falling in love with it all over again.

Soon enough, it was time for dessert.

Southern Coke Sundaes.  I’ve been turning this idea about in my head for a few weeks and it tasted just as good as I’d imagined.  The recipe is a play on the southern tradition of dumping salted peanuts into bottles of Coke.  When my mom told me she did that as a kid I was skeptical, but sundae-style it totally works!

Did you (or your parents) ever put peanuts in Coke?

Pretty Good

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Hello there; I hope everyone’s having a nice weekend.  It’s been a good Saturday around here, I spent lots of time with the husband, I got to take a few walks, and I received some good news I’ll be sharing later.

Our plan this morning was to cash in a Groupon for brunch, so to kill time while the restaurant opened I headed out to the Farmer’s Market and the Co-op.

While I was up on that end of Elmwood I stopped in at Wilson Farms for my new favorite coffee.

Half Jamaican Me Crazy Coffee (regular) and half Jamaican Me Crazy Cappuccino (sweetened).

Adam and I also drove over to the lake to check out the crazy fog.

Spooky!

Then it was time for brunch at Empire Grill.

But apparently brunch is only a Sunday thing, boo.  And the bad news didn’t stop there, Adam and I hated our brunch lunch order.  I really don’t want the blame the restaurant (the food wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible either), we just made really bad order choices for our preferences.

We split a Blue Point Toasted Ale,

the Caribbean Shrimp and Mango Salad with mixed greens, mango viniagrette marinated jumbo shrimp, black bean and pineapple salsa and a mango viniagrette,

and the California Turkey Wrap with coleslaw, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, onions and a chipolte aioli.

I sort of hate raw spinach and I hate wraps so, again, it wasn’t really the restaurant’s fault.  Nonetheless, I ended up eating basically nothing for brunch.

Thank goodness for Banana Split Cupcakes!

Amid chowing down on two cupcakes, Adam and I took a trek to the post office and got to enjoy almost 2 miles of walking and talking, win!

Random sidenote (super random when you consider that this isn’t even a new top) – how awesome is it that this shirt has a bustle?!

I had fancy plans for dinner, but when Scrubs reruns are on you never turn down pizza.

Adam and I split another Buffalo chicken slice,

along with a big pile of baby carrots.

Yep, pretty good for a Saturday!

They’re Fake

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This has got to be a quick one because exam #1 is tomorrow and I am soooo not ready.  I spent most of the day at school with Adam, but sadly my concentration was lacking.

Lunch wasn’t lacking though.  I threw together the ingredient dream team for our sandwiches.

White Arnold’s Sandwich Thins, organic turkey bologna, Laughing Cow Light French Onion Cheese, and a smear of maple jelly.

With a crunchy pear on the side.

And Adam and I split my 2nd sample from Sweet and Salty Zone Perfect Bars for dessert.

Cashew Pretzel was even tastier than the trail mix bar.  There were loads of pretzels and they were still perfectly crunchy.  I definitely recommend buying these bad boys if you see them.  At 200 calories it was perfect for sharing.

My hunger hit when I got home and it hit hard.  Thankfully I’ve got a husband who’s always willing to split mini ice creams with me.

I also made a bowl of popcorn (with melted Smart Balance Light).

I’m still hungry if you can believe it, so I’m off to make dinner.  Tonight’s recipe is going to be a good one!

A Food Log Food Blog

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So there’s thing 1 and thing 2. Thing 1 – we just got home after our second 9+ hour car trip in two days and I’m too tired to be clever. Thing 2 – due to inclement weather (nearby tornadoes!) we spent much of the weekend without power and my pictures are pretty dark and awful. But, here’s the thing – part of the reason I write this blog is as a food diary (accountability). Sometimes I feel so silly when I’m writing a post that isn’t funny or chockfull of useful ideas or amazing recipes, but I have to remember that I do this for me too. So, feel free to skip this weekend’s recap, or settle in for a food log post.

Friday

I made Adam and myself a huge iced coffee to split on the road.

Coffee + Silk Vanilla Almond Milk + maple syrup.

I also packed a sandwich for breakfast.

Sandwich Thin + Applegate Farms organic sliced chicken + a Light Laughing Cow.

I was randomly starving five minutes later and spent the rest of the day complaining about how hungry I was. Enter an early lunch from Sheetz. Cole slaw,

and a turkey sandwich, with cheddar, honey mustard, lettuce, and tomato, on a pretzel bun.

Bletch x2! Normally I’m really impressed by Sheetz, but this time not so much.

However, Adam and I did split some Reeses Minister that were freaking life changing!

When we saw them again at another gas station we even bought some to bring home.

When we got to Virginia, before a tornado(!!) knocked out the power, there was dinner waiting for us.

Salad,

chips,

and grapes.

Then we spent the night playing cards in the dark.

Saturday

I skipped breakfast in lieu of cuddling up to my books, but made time for a last lunch.

More salad,

a small slice of cheese pizza,

three shrimp with cocktail sauce,

and strawberries and melon.

I also had a cinnamon brownie (we baked them Thursday night to bring down) and some Ruffled for dessert.

I ate my fair share of junk on Saturday unfortunately. I don’t mind digging into desserts or snacks at all, but I prefer to nosh only on unhealthy things that I love, and I feel like I sort of just grazed.

In the afternoon we did get to go out for a short but nice walk with my father-in-law, brother-in-law, and niece.

I even ran several sprints with my niece, it’s so much fun getting little kids to be active.

We went out to dinner, where multiple peanuts we cracked.

Sagebrush is a steakhouse, but fortunately there was some chicken on the menu as well.

I started with a cheddar biscuit,

and a side salad with peanut vinaigrette.

Dinner was grilled chicken,

with bbq sauce,

and broccoli.

We stopped for gas on the way home and I grabbed a (half sweetened) coffee.

I also snacked on some Easter candy,

and this plate of chips x2.

Sunday

My in-laws whipped up breakfast before we had to hit the road.

Scrambled eggs, strawberries, and half a bagel with strawberry cream cheese.

I also ate an apple with cheese in the car,

and a medium plain coffee.

We sang along with the radio, listened to recordings of Adam’s lectures, and reviewed my music reading all afternoon. Then, according to plan we pulled into Grove City at 4:45 and grabbed a late lunch/ early dinner at Primanti Brother’s.

Adam grew up eating there and I’ve seen it on the Food Network so we were pretty excited.

I ordered the turkey and provolone cheese sandwich, which came piled with Cole slaw and French fries!

The bread was boring (and abandoned halfway through), but the slaw and fries were perfectly vinegary. I’d probably never want one again, but it was fun to try.

But the fun was just beginning. There was an outlet mall across the street so Adam suggested we take advantage of the great weather (75*) and walk around a bit. First, I love to walk with the husband. Second, we snagged a Silpat on sale.

And then I literally started hyperventilating with excitement… we spotted a self-serve froyo place!!!

You guys, I can’t even tell you! I got original tart and sugar-free praline, topped with hot fudge, marshmallow, butterfinger, strawberries, and a cherry.

This is the kind of “junk” I feel 100% good about eating.

I’m pretty sure I swooped the whole rest of the drive home.

We stopped for a mini grocery run at Wegmans, and also grabbed some Chinese food (which I’m just not going to blog); our early dinner was a bit too early 😉

If you have a blog, how much of its purpose is food log vs. fun?

Keep on Truckin’

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Another morning, another run in with a truck, or at least that’s what it felt like!  Even though I have a huge test tomorrow, and a meeting scheduled with my department head, the snooze button was definitely pressed!  Adam caught my cold and was too sick to go to his first class so thankfully(?!) he was able to drive me to campus for my meeting later.

I’m not sure what my mega-exhaustion is about, but since I’ve got a slew of important tests between now and next Friday I’m not going to push it.  Returning to the gym would be nice, but after more than a month off, another week really doesn’t make a difference.  Instead I’ve decided to make this week all about strength and stretch moves.  A decision that led me to meet with my department head dressed like this –

I’ve always got the time/energy for at least 10minutes total a day!  Here’s what I accomplished throughout this afternoon (reps) –

After coffee, of course.

Yesterday I grabbed a cup of (unsweetened) butter toffee flavored coffee from the gas station, and this morning I mixed it with Silk Vanilla Almond Milk and maple syrup over ice.

After my housekeeping trip to campus – my schedule next semester looks crazy!  I register on Thursday so please keep your fingers crossed for me – I baked up a plate of green bean fries.

Baked green beans are where it’s at!

You’ll never believe me if you don’t try for yourself, but they’re better than french fries.

I also had a yogurt bowl.

The base was Target brand Archer Farms Fat Free Honey Almond Yogurt.

The Thick and Creamy line is just like Greek, but I wish I’d tasted before I went ahead and bought two, fake-sugar taste city.

Thankfully my toppings made up for it.

A sliced banana, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and some honey roasted peanuts.

Honey roasted peanuts are basically addictive.

I had several handfuls straight from the bag.

Those handfuls didn’t stop my ever-growing hunger though.  Usually we don’t eat dinner before 8pm, but tonight I was ready at 5!  We started with salads –

Studies show that eating a salad before dinner can help you to eat less overall.

This salad was dressed delectably, in a mix of the last of the Stubbs BBQ sauce shaken with a splash of buttermilk.

Other toppings – on a baby arugula base – included dried cranberries and buttermilk blue cheese crumbles.

I think a bbq sauce salad will have to be a repeat in this week’s meal plan.

The main meal was a pretty fantastic idea as well.

Making pressed sandwiches on our George Foreman grill has been our “thing” this year, and this one included roasted asparagus!

Also 1000 island dressing, 99% lean sliced turkey, and 2oz of 50% reduced extra-sharp cheddar.

On cranberry poppy seed bread from a loaf my grandma bought us at The Bakehouse last week.

It was a pretty fantastic sandwich.

But it still didn’t quite squelch my hunger.  Enter 1/2 an Arnold’s Sandwich Thin, topped with pb, marshmallow topping, and chocolate chips for dessert.

Squelched!

And, um, I should probably be sleeping instead of blogging, so – see ya!

What is your favorite type of peanut?  (honey roasted, candied, red skin…)

In the Nutritional Know

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Hello, hello. I want to tell you guys that I’ve got to hurry because of family time, but really I need to go finish making notecards! Don’t worry, we got plenty of fun time in as well.

Our vacation theme of mini mishaps continued – we wanted to work out on the great path behind my grandparents’ house, but Adam left our bag of running gear at home!  In keeping with my pessimistic optimism, I’m going to assume that means that I’m still too sick to run and it’s good that I couldn’t.

I wasn’t hungry for breakfast, but I did snag a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

The whole family (grandparents, mom, husband, me) piled in the car for lunch at a neat spot in Troy.

The Bakehouse was right up my alley; adorable, lots of offerings, and freshly baked bread!

I went with a half soup/sandwich combo for lunch.

A cup of turkey corn chowder,

with half a sandwich of turkey, aged swiss, cole slaw, and thousand island dressing on pumpernickel.

I only ate about half of the soup, because it was a little creamy for me, but the sandwich was perfection!  The reuben – sauerkraut + cole slaw is my absolute favorite.

Actually, my absolute favorite used to be the English toffee bars sold at Starbucks.  They were removed from the menu a while back and I’ve been in mourning ever since.  The Bakehouse had the exact replica –

Split four ways.

OMG!  I love love love this bar, crunchy toffee inside a chewy blondie!

I cleansed my palate with some Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape.

We’re fancy like that.

We did some antiquing (Zzzz), and also made it to a matinée of “The Lincoln Lawyer.”  I feel like the opening wasn’t given a lot of fanfare (I only heard about the movie because I’m obsessed with Michaela Conlin), but the movie was so good!  The perfect mix of funny, touching, and tense.  I highly recommend.

We headed to Applebees afterward for dinner.  Chain restaurants aren’t exactly my speed, so I ordered using the nutritional info as my guide.  Looking for entres 500 calories or less led me to the Teriyaki Shrimp Pasta (440 calories).

This was actually very good!  Whole wheat pasta, teriyaki sauce, and grilled shrimp with broccoli, red bell pepper, water chestnuts, carrots, bok choy, mushrooms, and sugar snap peas.

I pretty much ignored the pasta, but I devoured my shrimp and veggies.

I tried to keep dinner light because I knew we were heading to George’s (<– Dairy Queen without the franchising) after dinner.

I ended up with a small snow storm (blizzard) with butterfingers and reeses cups.

I planned on sharing with Adam, but um, yeah…

We’re headed back to Buffalo tomorrow, with a few fun stops along the way.

If a restaurant offers nutritional info do you utilize it?  How much does the info affect your ordering?

Breaks and Body Farms

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Today has been chock-full of excitement!  Well, nerdy excitement; I’m feeling pretty jazzed.

First off, did you know that my spring break starts tomorrow?  Of course you didn’t, I’ve been so busy being sick that I haven’t had time to get excited about it.  Well I’m excited now!  Here are some of the fun happenings –

  • March 26th – April 3rd: Adam and I both are on spring break
  • March 28th – 30th: we are heading to Ohio to visit my grandparents, and my mommy will be there too!
  • March 30th – April 2nd: my mom will be spending her spring break in Buffalo with us
  • also, on April 9th we are heading to VA to visit my in-laws

I have a lot of school work to do over break (being sick for three weeks will do that), but it’s going to be great!

I wasn’t hungry again this morning, but I was starving as soon as I got to campus so I think breakfast might be back.  As soon as lab was over I dove into lunch, including a killer sandwich combination. 

An Arnold’s Sandwich Thin with sliced turkey, maple jelly, and…

Queso Fresco and Chipotle Laughing Cow Light.  The spicy and sweet made for a fantasmic combination.

With baby carrots on the side.

I ate with a group of friends and then we spent the rest of the afternoon banging out a bunch of pre-break work.  I took an online midterm, finished 2 weeks worth of lab work, and started studying for an upcoming nutrition exam.

I was hanging out on campus waiting for piece of excitement #2 – attending a forensic anthropology speaker series.  I spent 4:30 – 6:00pm  Listening to Rebecca Taylor from University of Tennessee’s “Body Farm” talk about their studies in human decomposition.  Eeeeeeee!  We learned about adipocere, and skin slippage, and animal scavenging.

I love anthropology, particularly forensic anthropology.  Did you know that if I wasn’t invested with having kids with the husband I’d probably be off pursuing a degree in Anthropology?!  I’m fascinated by the subject and would love to help work on applying our knowledge of osteology to crime scenes (think Brennan from “Bones”).

I continued the glee when I got home, with Smarties!

Adam and I split the box.

And then I got started on an exciting new dinner creation –

Ravioli Lasagna, serves 4 (loosely inspired by something I spotted in Everyday with Rachael Ray) –

  • 10-12 oz package refrigerated ravioli (we used a spinach and three cheese variety)
  • 4 cups (packed) fresh baby arugula
  • 2 cup marinara sauce
  • 1 cup reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese
  1. Preheat the oven to 350*.  Lightly grease an 8x8inch casserole dish with cooking spray.
  2. Place half of the ravioli in a neat, even layer in the bottom of your casserole dish.  Top ravioli with 2 cups arugula.  Top arugula with 1 cup marinara sauce, spreading evenly with a spoon.
  3. Repeat layers once more.  Top with mozzarella cheese.
  4. Bake for 45minutes, until browned and bubbly.

I’m not actually that huge of a lasagna fan, so it’s too time-intensive for me to ever want to prepare.  Plus, it’s expensive, the one I made for the husband’s 21st surprise party cost an arm and a leg.

This new lasagna was quick and cheap, but still cheesy!

Three questions for Thursday –

  1. What subject, that is not related to your career, thrills you?
  2. Smarties or M&M’s, pick your poison?
  3. Are you a lasagna fan?  Do you cook it often?

Dumb or Determined

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When I got up this morning I had a dilemma – in spite of not eating much yesterday I still wasn’t hungry.  BUT, I was about to do something really dumb that would require energy.  What’s a food I’ll eat even when I’m not hungry?  Oh yeah, cheese!

I made an epic grilled cheese sandwich.  Rye bread with Thousand Island dressing, 1 oz of extra sharp cheddar, and 1 oz of 2% shredded mozzarella.  I started out with two pieces of bread, but when I burned the daylights out of one side I ended up scraping off the cheese and folding the other piece in half.

It was epic, eaten on the walk to my really dumb idea.

Where were we walking to?  The Bengal 5k race at my school!

Let me explain – when the club I’m in mentioned the race a few weeks ago, it was supposed to fall during my half marathon training.  The entry fee was a pricy $25 (which is really steep when you factor in Adam wanting to run it too), but it went towards a scholarship fund and the nice, flat race course looked fun.  But then as I passed the two-week mark of being sick, I wasn’t sure what to do.

Here’s the thing you have to understand (pardon my S-words); no matter how Sick I am, I will always be more Stubborn and Stupid.  Stubborn enough that I’m not going to skip a $25 race, and stupid enough that I’ll decide to run instead walk once I get there.

So it wasn’t easy, but I ran the entire 3.1miles without stopping.  And I might be more of a dumb-ass than a bad-ass, but I’m pretty proud of myself for not giving up.

We crossed the finish line at 35minutes on the nose (Adam ran/crawled with me like a saint).  I was crazy slow, but I ran the entire time, and when an annoying old man joked about passing me at the end I even managed to sprint the last .1!  Sidenote – my sprint at the end was actually the fastest I’ve ever crossed a finish line; there is definitely something to the whole pacing yourself business.

We’ve got strange but fun plans for lunch and dinner, I hope everyone is having a good Saturday!