Tag Archives: sauce

Quick Trip To Canada

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I went to Canada today!

We didn’t really do any exciting abroad things, but we did snap pictures as we drove past the falls.  We were just making a quick trip up to the International Marathon Expo.  I offered to drive up so that blog friends Katy and Holly could pick up their packets.

I actually was planning on running the half marathon with them until not too long ago, but that’s another story for another time.

Prior to our drive, Adam and I hit up the farmers’ market in search of eggplants.  We had success.  We also found breakfast.

The husband and I split this locally made cheddar-rosemary scone.

It was crumbly and delicious.  I need to put “make scones” on my life to-do list.

Then after Canada we headed to the grocery store.  Adam and I both got totally sucked in by this register line purchase.

We split the box 60:40 (his favor), but both took at least a nibble of all four flavors.

When we got home I made myself a plate of grilled cheese epicness for lunch.

2 mini sandwiches (that’s a small plate) of sourdough bread with cheddar, 2% mozzarella, and pickled jalapeno slices.

I cooked the sandwiches in a skillet with another smaller skillet pressed on top and they turned out so crispy. 

Plus melty, cheesy, and spicy.

With a cookie for dessert.

We had dinner planned but Adam was absolutely desperate to get back to India Gate.  We compromised by eating some veggies at home first.  In the form of salads.

This was an amazing salad too.  A Romaine lettuce base topped with groats, roasted zucchini, goat cheese, and champagne dressing.

The cheese was more of the world’s best goat cheese from First Light Farm and Creamery.

This time a double cream chevre with garlic and dill.

And the dressing was a Foodbuzz Tastemakers Program sample from Marzetti’s Simply Dressed Line.

Nutrition –

From the accompanying literature – “Marzetti Simply Dressed is made with a minimal number of all-natural ingredients, such as extra virgin olive oil, canola oil (a source of Omega-3 ALA) and sea salt, and does not contain any preservatives, trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, or artificial flavors or colors.”

After all that it’s ironic, but my only complaint was with one of the ingredients!  The dressing contained xantham gum (which I’m not opposed to in principle and do use occasionally in smoothies) and it made it way to viscous.  The thick, goopy, snotty (sorry) texture is not what I’m looking for in a dressing.  But the flavor was nice without being overpowering.  And I only needed 1.5 Tbsp (less than 80 calories) to feel like my whole salad was properly dressed.

‘Twas good all together.

But we hung out a bit too long between our salad course and the rest of our meal because we definitely had room for dessert, drink, and appetizer!

We started with Paneer Pakora, hhome-made cheese dipped in chickpea batter and deep-fried.

This was like the Indian spin on fried mozzarella sticks.  Here’s my serving –

We also ordered a fig lassi.

It was creamy with nice back hints of fig and these great little pieces of chewiness at the bottom.

We meant to share this 50:50 but I took a much larger portion because my meal was hot-hot-hot.

It’s not on the menu, but they were happy to hook me up with Tofu Vindaloo.

Vindaloo is a spicy, tomato based sauce that I’ve been dying to try because it’s notorious for melting your face off.  I ordered mine “hot” hot and while this was spicy it still wasn’t quite the heat level I was hoping for.  I’ve found outside of Thai food other types of heat just feel a little flat to me.

Adam repeated his order from last time, Chicken Makhani, boneless skinless tandori chicken breast prepared in tomato, butter, cream sauce and garnished with cashews and raisins.

My meals have all been good but I think there is really no way to beat this dish!  The cashews and raisins are little bits of chew embedded in every bite.

The bits of chew theme continued with fantastic rice.

I told Adam during this meal that chewiness is my favorite texture sensation.

Here was plate number 1 –

Rice, tofu, plus a taste of the Makhani sauce.  I ended up also topping my vindaloo liberally with raita to help cool things down.

For plate number 2 I ended up just layering all of the components into a pile.

It was a great combination of flavors.  And we came home with leftovers so we’ll have happy taste buds for lunch tomorrow too.

We didn’t want to kill the date-night vibe so we ended with dessert.

Gulab Jamun, deep-fried milk balls in a sweet syrup.

These were like little donuts with the slightest flavor of milk, like tres leches light.  The syrup had some sort of spice in it and lent another nice layer of flavor.  It was a fun end to a fun meal.

Which Indian dish should I check out next?

My Chemical Romance

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Can we just not talk about the fact that my diet today consisted of sugar, caffeine, and Lean Cuisine?  Goodbye phytochemicals, hello chemicals!

And I was even more of a disaster yesterday.  (<– hence, no post)  The dog ate some very important notes and made me sooooo mad!  By the time I finished cleaning up I just went straight to bed!  Thank goodness I ate a whole bag of chips for lunch so I was covered calorically 😉

I didn’t prepack lunch so this morning I grabbed what I thought was an apple off my shelf.  Nope.

Since I had no other food in my bag I did end up eating Good & Plentys at 8am!  I totally deserved the sugar-induced buzz/headache that followed.

Speaking of sugar, how cute are these?

There is a bake sale going on tomorrow and Janessa and I are bringing in cake balls.

Pumpkin cake, homemade cream cheese frosting, a dip in dark chocolate, and fall colored sprinkles!

We baked all through our break so I couldn’t get food, but I did make time for Starbucks.

That’s a grande, non-fat, caramel macchiato with pumpkin spice subbed in for vanilla syrup.  Genius!

School got out at 4:30 and then Adam and I had to get our flu shots and spend some time switching out our summer and winter wardrobes.  The seasons have officially changed!

I was beyond ready for dinner by the time I sat down to eat at 8pm.

These Thai -style Chicken Spring Rolls from Lean Cuisine rocked my socks.

I ate 6 (aka two servings) minus 1 for the husband who has become a recent Lean Cuisine addict.  I know that the sodium content sucks but they are all so dang good and our grocery store always has great sales.  Plus, for my personal diet I’m more concerned with saturated fat content than sodium.

Dipped in homemade peanut sauce these made a nice, satisfying dinner.

P.S. My mom just called to ask why there was no “Window Shopping Wednesday” post today.  Because I spent all day thinking it was Tuesday!?!

Pork

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Can you guess what I made for dinner today?  I’ll give you some hints.  It was made in the crock-pot.  It was inspired by my favorite meat dish back when I ate mammals, Coca Cola grilled pork at my grandparents’ house.

Any guesses?

Cherry Coke Crock Pot Chicken!

Cherry Coke Crock Pot Chicken, serves 4

  • 1.5 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
  • 2 cups (warm) Cherry Coke

Place chicken and soda into crock-pot and cook 4 hours on high.  Remove excessive liquid from crock and shred chicken with two forks.

The chicken only ended up with the slightest hint of cherry cola flavor, but it was perfectly tender and juicy.  And the smell coming out of the crock-pot was ah-mazing!

We served our shredded chicken on top of a big pile of steamed, frozen spinach.  With Cherry Cola Soy Reduction drizzled on top.  I boiled Cherry Coke and tamari until reduced by 3/4 then whisked in 1 Tbsp of butter and 1 Tbsp of all-purpose flour at the last minute.

The sauce made this meal!

Speaking of pork,

Pig is no more.

It’s been 2 days, Webster is a beast!

Do you ever cook with cola?  What is your favorite way to enjoy a soft drink?

Food Bank Blog

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Hello, there!  I think I got a little bit too much sleep last night because I was definitely feeling a bit off today (two beers does not equal a hangover).  Things got a bit dicey this afternoon but now I’m feeling good and ready to tackle some studying for tomorrow’s scary exam.

Getting up my blog post this morning meant I ran out of time to pack food, not a good thing since I drank my dinner.  I grabbed this Pro Bar on my way out the door since I figured it sort of had enough calories to count for lunch and breakfast.

It did not, but more on that in a minute.  I am done with Pro Bars either way though.  For one, holy saturated fat!  I know most of it comes from the healthy nut source but still.  For two, every single flavor I’ve tried has tasted exactly the same.  And they all have chocolate chips in them regardless of if that fits the flavor or not.

We spent our four-hour class working on case studies dealing with pediatric nutrition.  Case studies are always fun, but a little scary too because soon we will have to be doing this stuff with real patients.  My group’s dealt with obesity-related sleep apnea.  The 24 hour recall portion was sooo frustrating; think 10-year-old girl eating 2 breakfast burritos, 2 bologna cheese sandwiches, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, 42 ounces of pop and sweet tea, a coffee (?!) with a 1/4 cup of half and half, and more in the span of a day.

After class I spent two hours volunteering at the campus food bank.  I didn’t know about it until I signed up, but apparently my school has a food bank set up for low-income students who run out of food/money at the end of the semester.  A group of us went to sort donations by food group and expiration date and then make bags with 2-days worth of food for students to come pick up.  The selection was a little frustrating – we made 60 bags but only had 6 cans of fruit – but I am glad to know that BSC does offer a service like that.  Plus it was a lot of fun; I love organizing!

What was not so fun was my lack of planning coming back to bite me mid-afternoon.  We were at the food bank until a little after 2pm.  By 1pm all I had eaten for the past 24 hours was 2 beers and a Pro Bar.  I had a killer migraine and several people mentioned that I was starting to slur my words.  Not fun!

No Take-out ‘Tober was painful today.  On the walk home I swear I was thinking about Pad Thai so hard I could taste it.  But I stuck to my guns, and I ended up eating exactly what I was craving.

I’m Starving And Cranky, Flavor and Protein Packed Pasta Toss, serves 1, all measurements approximate

  • 1 cup cooked pasta
  • 1 cup chopped carrots
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 3 splashes chicken broth
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 2 Tbsp chunky peanut butter
  • 1 Tbsp tamari
  • 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 dash Sriracha
  • 1 large egg
  1. In a large skillet, cook veggies in broth until liquid is gone and veggies are adequately softened.
  2. Meanwhile, whisk together peanut butter through Sriracha (microwave to soften if need be).
  3. Add pasta and sesame oil to pan, toss, and cook until crispy and browned.
  4. Pour peanut sauce over veggies and pasta.  Cook 2-3 minutes.
  5. Scramble in egg.

So. Flipping. Good.

Rice noodles would have been an itsy bit better but I used what I had on hand which was this pasta sample from the Healthy Living Summit.

I tried a bite plain and give it two thumbs up.

Two questions –

  1. Does/did your school have a food bank?
  2. Did anyone end up deciding to do No Take-out ‘Tober along with us?!

Pie for Breakfast

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I want to tell you about how I’m doing on my bedtime goals, but you just want to hear more about that title.  I’ll be quick, I promise; and then I’ll get to the good stuff.

bedtime

Baby steps on this goal, baby steps are needed.  I got in bed at 10 (which isn’t great) and up at 6 (which isn’t horrible).  Since I’m not going to the gym until this afternoon I technically don’t need to be up early.  But since I wasn’t doing homework or watching exciting tv I didn’t need to be up late.  <– I love how I’m calling 10 late now; I was up until at least 1am watching “Charmed” all this summer!

pie breakfast

I know that this don’t look like pie,

but it sure tastes like it!  And for those of you who count calories but want to make this (you are going to make this at home?), I calculated and came up with 270 as an upper estimate.

Key lime?  Creamy?  “Creme Fraiche?” Crunchy graham cracker crumbs?  Check, check, check, and check.

And it took me about 3 minutes to get into a bowl this morning.

Plate bowl the yogurt.  Whisk together sour cream and sugar in a separate bowl.  Crumble graham crackers on top of yogurt.  Top with sour cream.

This breakfast doesn’t have all that high of a calorie or protein content (13 grams, I checked that too) but hopefully it will help to carry me through me long day.  For those of you who asked, Mom, here is my school schedule for this semester –

I realize I only have one class today so that’s technically not long, but 4 hours in one room does feel pretty brutal!  My day is mostly long though because I’m attempting a longer run at the gym this afternoon.  Wish me luck!

Dip for Dinner

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I finished all of my schoolwork for this week, wrote an article for the Dietetics newsletter, and made a deeply delicious dinner.  Go me!

The first round of dinner felt oh-so-sophisticated, dip and crudities.

The dip was my newest recipe creation, Black and Blue Dip:

Yield: 14 ounces; Prep Time: 10 minutes; Cook Time: 0

  • 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 oz (or 1/2 cup) blue cheese crumbles
  • 4 Tbsp light sour cream
  • 3 Tbsp A-1 steak sauce
  1. Place beans into the food processor and pulse until mostly smooth.
  2. Add blue cheese, sour cream, and steak sauce and pulse until well-combined, scraping down the sides of the food processor as needed.

The black beans and blue cheese are a fun flavor combo, the A-1 adds spice and depth, and the sour cream helps to smooth out the flavor.  Adam described this as meaty (and fun for all vegetables!) so I guess this had umami!  Each 2 oz serving had only 106 calories so this would be the perfect dip to bring to a party where you were hoping to keep things healthy.

I ate a 2 oz serving,

with baby carrots, green pepper, and celery dipped in.

Adam and I both agreed that this was a fabulous appetizer.

The second half of dinner was brinner.

I used 2 Tbsp of butter to saute 1 pint of sliced mushrooms, 1 sliced red bell pepper, and 1 Mayan onion.  We pulled out half of the cooked veggies for later use and scrambled the rest into 3 large eggs.

This dinner ended up being a little small but it’s bedtime so what can you do?  Meh.

What is your favorite thing to dip into blue cheese?  Baby carrots are good but pizza crusts are better!

Stick The Finish

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I stuck the finish!  I continued my first day in weeks as a healthy, productive human being by whipping up a tasty, nutritious dinner.  Back off, Martha.

Earlier in the afternoon Adam and I took a quick walk down Elmwood.  We were both feeling twitchy and needed a chance to stretch our legs.  Walking was good for our extra energy, and splitting a Java Twix Bar was good for our souls.

It’s been years since I’ve eaten a traditional Twix, but man this was good.  The coffee undertones totally made it.

When we got home it was time to slave over a hot stove whirring food processor.  Just kidding, this recipe came together in a flash.  Meet your new go-to pesto:

Healthy Spinach Pesto, yields 11 ounces

  • 8 cups fresh baby spinach
  • 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
  • 2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
  1. Working in small batches, pulse spinach and oil in a food processor until.  Be sure to process until smooth, don’t stop when you’ve reached the grass cuttings consistency.
  2. Add parmesan and pine nuts and continue to process until well-combined.
  3. Can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

I love pesto, but store-bought varieties are anything but low-calorie and basil is so darn expensive that it’s not exactly cheap to make at home.  I’ve been curious about trying a spinach based pesto for a while and I think this totally worked.  The flavor is rich and nutty and not at all “healthy.”  Tastes can be deceiving though, here are the nutrition stats I calculated for a 1 oz serving –

I wanted to test the recipe in a dish I already knew was good so I turned to my Pesto Pasta Casserole.

I doubled the recipe, and switched penne for spirals but other than I stuck with the original.

And it’s official, we love this new pesto!

If when you make it yourself I recommend trying out my Pesto Pasta Casserole too.  It’s about the simplest recipe ever – just bake together pasta, pesto, arugula, and mushrooms – and it tastes delicious.  Make it, make it, make it!

What’s your favorite way to eat pesto?  I’m a big fan of cheeseless pizza with pesto and chicken.

Treat Upon Treat

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Is it okay if I start every post this week with “phew?”  Having visitors is the best kind of exhausting fun.  Especially exhausting if those visitors are my parents and we aren’t just counting the hours until they leave!  My mom, dad, Adam and I always have the best time exploring.  Adam and I aren’t technically on vacation, but we sure ate like we were.

My eyes shut way past 1 am last night and picking my parents up this morning felt like a total feat.  Iced coffee (Wegman’s version of Jamaican Me Crazy, with skim milk) was necessary.

I also split a poppy seed bagel with cream cheese with my dad.

Wegman’s bakery never fails to impress; the bagels were the freshest of fresh and this was so chewy and good.

I made dinner at our apartment tonight and I took my parents on the tour de Wegmans while we picked up the necessary provisions.  When you live on St. Thomas, stateside grocery stores are seriously exciting.

I ate an apple en route to our main activity for the day,

the outlet mall!  Niagara has the best outlet mall ever, with deals from Coach and Juicy Couture to Banana Republic and J. Crew.  We stuck more with the 2nd two, since Adam and I were on a mission to get (affordable) professional clothing for this year.  We both will be working in the hospitals and we both need to step up our wardrobes from last year.  I’ll have to take pictures of my outfits on internship days this semester, apparently I’m making this the year of grey pants!

We stopped by the Lindt outlet and we all picked a piece of candy to try.

I went with this guy, who was stuffed with hazelnut cream and marzipan.

Around lunch-time I took a few bites of my parents’ Teriyaki chicken from the food court.

But I had my eye on another prize.

A Ben and Jerry’s location?!  With several “scoop shop only” flavors?!  Gah!  I got a kid’s cup with Coffee, Coffee, Buzz, Buzz and Coconut 7-Layer Bar.

Ah-mazing.  Our freezer makes everything that isn’t single-serve icy and crappy and it was so exciting to get ice-cream that was “fresh.”  I gleefully told Adam (several times) that it was like Ben and Jerry’s fresh off the vine!  Sidenote – when I say things like that sometimes I can see Adam grimace in physical pain over how fat and dorky I am.

Our next stop was to Hertel Ave to check out the Italian Festival.

So fun.  And a lot bigger than I was expecting; it felt like we just kept walking.  We saw several fun treats,

but headed home for food since dinner was already in the crock-pot.  I made my parents pulled chicken with my 1000 Island BBQ Sauce,

corn on the cob,

and tossed salad with romaine, walnuts, baby carrots, and sun-dried tomatoes.

Such a yummy summer meal.

These pulled chicken sandwiches (with homemade bbq sauce natch!) are my favorite thing we make.

I topped my side salad with Newman’s Own Lite Caesar dressing and wheat germ.

I grew up eating wheat germ on salad and I think I need to get back in the habit, it makes the best topper.

We were all stuffed after dinner so we took a walk before dessert.  I drank a Moroccan Mint iced tea from The Spot but I forgot my camera and my glass was sucked dry before we got home.  However, if you are at The Spot this summer definitely get the Moroccan Mint, just brewed and served over ice it actually tastes sweet.

Not as sweet as goodies from the Italian Festival though.

I ate the butt end of a delicious eclair.

What a way to end the day!

Adam has school tomorrow so my parents and I might have a more low-key day.  We’ll still have fun on our own of course, but maybe I can give my feet a rest.