In the Nutritional Know

by Emily

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?

24Mar2011

Breaks and Body Farms

by Emily

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

Preheat the oven to 350*. Lightly grease an 8x8inch casserole dish with cooking spray.
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.
Repeat layers once more. Top with mozzarella cheese.
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 –

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

19Mar2011

Dumb or Determined

by Emily

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!

15Mar2011

Also

by Emily

I forgot to mention this morning that my fancy new breakfast bowl came courtesy of CSN Stores.

Adam and I both love the square shape of it.

Adam and I both also love these –

Like a lot. I ate one shortly after what I deemed an acceptable amount of time after breakfast.

Also lunch.

Tasty, tasty lunch. All this grilled cheese does is win.

On two slices of rye I skillet cooked thousand island dressing, 1.5 ounces of extra sharp cheddar, the last of the sauerkraut, and 2 slices of 2% swiss cheese. It was epic.

Also baby carrots dipped in blue cheese.

Also from CSN Stores.

Also, would someone cross their fingers that my sinus headache goes away so I can study?

11Mar2011

I Can’t Operate Machinery

by Emily

It’s Friday-Friday-Friday! It’s been a long and fruitful day around these parts. I did too much yesterday though, and I was definitely paying for it this morning – I got out of bed at 7 but only made it as far as the couch!

Thankfully by the time my one class came around I was able to make it to campus. Walking to campus sucked, but it meant I got an opportunity to copy/photocopy all of my missed notes from various friends. Well not all, music is kind of a lost cause! And I got the good news that our Biochem test is pushed back, so I only have one exam next week 🙂

Walking back from campus in the hail (ouch!) wasn’t fun either, but I made it to Elmwood and got a nice set of work done. I nibbled while I worked, first a black bean burrito from Elmwood Taco and Sub.

My hand’s there to show size. It was sort of a strange burrito – just a tortilla with plain black beans and a slice of cheese – but it ended up being perfect for my sick stomach.

Next I walked over to Starbucks for a plain iced black tea with honey.

The honey worked about as well as you’d imagine it would it an iced drink, but it was a nice idea in theory.

I ordered after 2 so I got to choose a mini treat for free.

Note – I thought the box was so cute I actually brought it home!

I went with the salted caramel bar.

Divine! I told Adam later that this was in my top 10 tasted cookie bars.

I cranked out some good notecards (I’m only halfway done though, missing nutrition classes is hard) and then the husband picked me up around 5:30. Then we headed to Walgreens where I caved and finally bought some Niquil. I’m not anti-medicine, we’re just too poor to buy any; but my coughing was driving Adam made so we bit the bullet. I took some just before starting this post, we’ll have to see if I pass out mid-way!

I waited until after preparing dinner to dose myself in any case.

Roasted asparagus.

Sidenote – this is Adam’s favorite veggie, probably actually his favorite food, period. If you know a veggie hater have them try roasted asparagus!

Reubens <–swoon–>

On two thin slices of rye went Applegate Farms Organic Chicken, two slices of 2% swiss, a handful of sauerkraut, and a serving of 1000 island dressing. Then we sandwiched and pressed in the George Foreman Grill.

So good! Reubens, whether turkey or chicken or tempeh, or sauerkraut or cole slaw, always rock my socks.

And Zzzzzzzzzz…..

Do you take medication when you’re sick? Why or why night?

8Mar2011

Meat Lovers for the Veggie Lover

by Emily

So, I’m still sick. Still puking, still hacking up lungs, still feeling yucky. I’d love to tell you I stayed in bed all day, not infecting people, but the fact was I had appointments to keep and places to go.

First was a trip to my orthodontist. To make a long story short – my retainers are chipping my teeth and I can’t use them anymore. Now I’m switching to an (expensive) plastic Invisalign-type solution. The silver lining here is that now I’ve got a month or so retainer-free 🙂 Also, thank goodness Adam was there, I needed to save my whispery voice.

I had a break between appointments, so we headed to Starbucks for a grande awake tea with honey.

I also ordered a breakfast wrap.

Then we drove to school for my 2nd big, important interview. I can’t really say much about it, but things seemed to go well.

Adam needed to go to the mall afterwards and the opportunity to be upright in a climate-controlled enviroment was too sweet to pass up. I picked up a Gatorade while we were in Dicks.

And when I got home I had a serving of popcorn.

Popcorners rather,

these chips were a lot of fun.

I managed to complete my labwork this afternoon, but not study for my test, boo! We did manage some real food for dinner though.

Green bean fries,

and mini pizzas.

We knew I’d be worthless in the kitchen this week so when Adam made my turkey sausage the other day he cooked up the whole pan at once. Tonight all I had to do was chop up a few servings and throw them on a crust with marinara sauce and 2% mozzarella. The sausages were great on the pizza, perfect amount of spice and chew, and it was fun to try something “meat-lovers”-ish.

Plus I dipped in ranch, which is always fun.

Adam’s pizza had the addition of Applegate Farms Natural Pepperoni.

He described it as “glorious,” which apparently means it had good zest, good consistency (easy to bite and no chunks), and great flavor. I didn’t taste any, but he said it cooked well on the pizza.

That’s all folks!

What’s your typical pizza love, veggie-lovers or meat-lovers?

2Mar2011

Vegan Challenge Thoughts, and Lunch

by Emily

We’ve completed another Vegan Month! The husband and I both successfully eschewed all animal products (mostly; there were a few packaged food slip-ups) for all of February. First off – No, we didn’t pick February because it’s the shortest month. But yes, we are glad we didn’t have to go another three days!

For the most part, the challenge was a success. Adam completed the entire month with me and I am so proud of him! Our main goal was to push ourselves back to the kitchen and that definitely happened. Other than the last week or so (which with 4+ tests would have been crazy even if we had a personal chef!) we pulled back from our take-out habit and got back to basics. I made a few old favorites, and discovered some great new vegan recipes. It was wonderful to get to flex my creative muscles in the kitchen again.

The part that wasn’t so successful was our attitude. We started strong, but towards the end we just couldn’t wait for the challenge to be over. I’m actually not sure I deem this longing a failure though. It wasn’t a “I want pizza and nachos and buffalo wings, oh my!” craving, all though those things did sound good. Instead I found myself desperate for scrambled eggs and lean meat. All I really wanted towards the end was a turkey sandwich. Unfortunately, since I couldn’t eat the sandwich I ate a lot of french fries instead.

Now that the challenge is over, we are going to return to our normal diet, with improvements. Adam is going to cut back on his milk consumption and mix it up with almond milk half the time. I’m going to continue to question whether or not every dish really needs cheese. We are going to continue to try to ratchet up our produce consumption. We’re going to continue to enjoy a lot of meatless meals, but we are also going to feel good about eating lean, humanely-sourced meats. We’re excited about it.

Now on to today’s lunch.

I finally got that ~~turkey~~ sandwich.

Chicken actually, this was a Sandwich Thin with horseradish mustard, 2% swiss, and Applegate Farms Organic Roasted Chicken Breast (more on that in a sec).

I usually tend towards turkey because I’m afraid chicken will be slimy, but this was anything but. I taste-tested while I assembled my sandwich last night and was very impressed. The roasting gave a great smokey flavor and one serving has just 60 calories.

Plus another juicy pear.

Ok, secs up: At the start of vegan month I received a rather ironic product sample –

a variety of meats from Applegate Farms. While I don’t have a moral issue with the consumption of animals, I do think it’s imperative that those animals be treated with respect. Applegate Farms makes products that mesh with my values.

When I opened the package to squirrel cold cuts into the freezer, I discovered they also sent a cute book, children’s illustrations alongside their food philosophy. I think this page sums up my response to the vegan challenge pretty well –

[Eat less meat, enjoy it more!]

Do you eat (any kind of) meat? Why or why not? What’s your food philosophy?

1Mar2011

Furtive, Unfathomable, and also Enigmatic

by Emily

I’ve been away from the computer all day, it feels good to get back! Only for a minute or two though, I’ve got a major exam tomorrow!

I think I’ve also got a cold. Not to worry, I still blame all my tiredness on inconsiderate barking dogs, but I’ve got some definite sickness symptoms as well. My interview went great (I don’t want to get into more for privacy reasons) but the minute I left the office I was practically shaking with exhaustion. My neck/throat are so sore and puffy too. Not to worry though, the husband decided that with my swollen nodes I look like a bullfrog when I shrug my shoulders; this has delighted him to no end all day long.

Thank goodness Adam didn’t have school today, he could drive me to and from my interview, and also to Wegman’s for a study session. Thank goodness I packed a comfier outfit than my suit to change in to.