It’s 2am and I just got home; I’ll just give the important notes.
* Webster is doing fine, he came home with an antibiotic and an order not to worry
* I looooved The Help. I may not have eaten or changed out of my smelly shirt this afternoon, but I read it in its entirety today
* My friends make really amazing food for book club
* I had 3-4 chocolate saltines and 5-6 chips with the most amazing crab dip
* I had two Arnold Palmers made with this!
I can’t even tell you how freaking good it feels to be back to blogging. I know I don’t always blog everything (though if I blog for a day than I include everything that goes in my mouth) but going extended periods without posting just feels strange!
I’ve got a busy week ahead – 3 tests and 2 projects by Friday – so I set my alarm for 8am to get working. I got a little distracted by house organizing and puppy training but I got a good bit of work done too. I was extra fueled by coffee.
Into my big mug (thanks Janetha!) went 2.5 cups of coffee, 2 Tbsp English Toffee syrup, and a big pour (~3/4 cup?) of Silk Plain Almond Milk.
Hello, dog.
I went unorthodox for breakfast because I found the last serving of bacon, corn, and shrimp chowder lurking in the back of the fridge.
Food safety regulations would have called for tossing this but it tasted great and I feel fine.
Around 12:30 I headed over to Delaware Park for a run. Running at high-noon wasn’t my best idea but this ended up being a terrible workout in general.
That’s 3.5 miles in 44 minutes plus 1.75 miles more walked. This run was pretty much a shitshow. 9 minutes into my second lap my feet went completely numb and I had to walk to avoid twisting my ankle. Adam had tightly tied my shoes for me but loosening them didn’t help and I wasn’t off pins and needles until I actually took my shoes off. I wanted to finish my last walking lap because I had my notecards with me to review so I ended up doing 1.75 miles barefoot. It seemed like a good idea at the time but my gigantic, excruciating blisters indicate that it was actually a terrible idea. Ouch!
I was at least cheered up by my shower thanks to this lavender soap my mom sent me –
When I was a kid my mother loved lilac (which smells like cat pee, by the way) but my dad and I couldn’t get it together so we’d always buy her tons of lavender-scented goodies. I teased her for years about being an old lady but in the last year or so I’ve become completely obsessed with all things lavender. Guess I’m the old lady.
Adam offered to help me hobble through the grocery store so I did a quick-lunch out of hand. A black plum,
and a Sweet Tango apple.
Holy crisp and juicy, Batman! I was so thrilled to loudly munch through a fresh apple; Sweet Tangos are divine.
We did Wegmans and the co-op and when I got home I hungrily dug into this container of Dr. McDougall’s Spicy Kung Pow Noodles.
Pretty darn good. The was a nice amount of spice to these and it felt like a ton of food for 220 calories.
Dinner involved more shrimp and tasted better than it looked.
On the left is a small serving of Cooking Light‘s Bombay Shrimp Curry. My changes to the recipe included using ground mustard instead of mustard seed, skipping the cilantro, and using a veggie mix with peas, corn, carrots, lima beans, and green beans. I also skipped the rice because I had just eaten pasta.
Unfortunately, we hated it. Adam and I both could barely choke this down. The flavor was strangely flat and it was spicy in an unpleasant way. Do not recommend.
I know the stuff on the right looks bad, but I promise it tasted sooooo good.
Cheesy baked eggplant! Using this Italian eggplant I picked up at the farmers’ market last week.
For two – into my mini casserole dish went a thin layer of marinara, a layer of thinly sliced eggplant, a sprinkle of salt, a thick layer of marinara, and 2 slices of 2% provolone cheese. Baked at 450* for 45minutes.
Gah; this was unbelievable! The eggplant got soft enough to cut with a fork and baking the cheese intensified its flavor x100. We are going to make this again as a main meal very soon.
For dessert I used Mixchief Jell-O Mix to make Cherry Coke Jell-O.
How fun! It wasn’t as strong as I would have liked but I would try it again and substitute more cola for water next time.
That bowl had 2 servings but I only ate one. To be honest I’m feeling pretty unsatisfied; I think I will most likely end up adding enough dessert to this day while I study. I’ll update later if I do.
How often do you update your blog? Does it feel strange to take breaks.
***Updated to add – I did have a 2nd (fiberific) dessert; 1/3 cup of All Bran Bran Buds with 2 tsp of crushed Heath bar. No picture because the dog chewed through my camera cord. <– ugh!
Why the frick am I still awake? My Sunday tiredness has not disapated at all, in fact it seems to be getting worse, so logging 6 hours of sleep before tomorrow is such a bad idea. Quick post, quick post.
The dog didn’t get walked (rain), my run got skipped (duh), but I did finish all of my necessary school work (yay), and dinner did get made.
Bagna Cauda Cauliflower Pasta from last month’s Everyday with Racheal Ray. The recipe isn’t online yet so I can’t link but here is a shot of the ingredients –
My changes were –
Quite good, but definitley a time consuming recipe. I can’t believe I like anchovies?!
I had enough time to starve while we cooked so I plated myself a gigantic serving.
I waited 30 minutes to digest my heaping bowl of pasta but when I was still hungry I made myself a yogurt dessert bowl.
A Wegman’s 0% Honey Greek Yogurt topped with a sliced black plum and 2 tsp of crumbled Heath bar.
Yum; I am so glad that plums are still in season! Locals – this Wegman’s line of Greek was great, definitely on par with Chobani.
And zzzzzzzzZ!
Can I just confess that I’m actually not thank goodnessing for Friday? I’m not ready for the weekend yet. I really wish it was Wednesday and I could relive Thursday but chose to do some freaking work instead of being a lazy. Ce la vie.
For breakfast I brought the last 1/3 serving or so of leftovers from last night (pasta with peas, spinach, and nutritional yeast).
This was very pleasing to eat cold for some reason.
Plus the very last serving of dried hibiscus.
So sad, I’d give anything to live near a Trader Joe’s!
I also got to supplement with coffee; my first class teacher was an hour late this morning (flat tire) and I had time to go with a friend to the bookstore coffee shop.
With skim milk. I post coffee pics because of the milk (I post everything with calories minus my vitamins and random nibbles…and days I don’t post at all!) but I realize that these mug shots are less interesting than the traditional kind. I probably should have just skipped mentioning this one all together because I didn’t get to finish it before I went to the Dietetics computer lab and I threw half of it away. Usually I eat and drink in the lab like a rebel but they mentioned it in the meeting yesterday and I was so so glad that I’d thrown mine out when a professor came in and yelled at a few classmates.
We were in the computer lab for my 2nd class but I ended up staying late and finishing an entire assignment that isn’t due for another 2 weeks!!! I was so proud of myself. And so glad that the husband nicely waited to pick me up. <– he drove me to and fro today because I’m wearing a backless top in spite of the 45* morning <– it is September and I will wear my September clothes, damnit!
Adam took the dog to the vet before he picked me up; someone is so excited about being cone and stitch-free!
That’s Webster sticking his whole head under the crack in the bathroom door!
I didn’t get home until past 3pm and I was more than ready for lunch. Green grapes.
Plus leftover vegan Philly filling topped with a dollop of light sour cream and tons of Sriracha.
Meh. Even with the sriracha this was bland and the texture just wasn’t right. I ate about half before moving on to other leftovers; 2oz of bread (also from the Phillys) microwaved with Smart Balance Light.
Chewy bread makes me happy; Adam and I have both been craving pizza with good crusts all week.
We made plans with friends to come over for dinner last week, but Adam told me at 5 o’clock that the boys were also coming over for poker later so we had to do an emergency run to the store. I was getting pretty hungry so I was thrilled to be handed a Wegman’s sushi sample.
I also snagged cookies; a whole wheat butterscotch drop and a cinnamon nut rugelach.
This was actually my first time trying rugelach and now I’m smitten; it was so chewy!
Patrick and Michelle came over this evening but THEY cooked for US! They brought over supplies and equipment; it was so much fun to watch some legit steaming take place in my kitchen.
They ended up putting together a great meal.
Sticky rice,
steamed shrimp and some stir-fried veggies,
and steamed tilapia with a spicy black bean sauce.
The fish was like butter; so creamy and good. Thank you so much guys!
My only contribution to the meal was dessert,
but Patrick ate at least 3 S’more Oat Balls so I think I did good. I stuck to one but I will note that I brought some in to my school friends this morning and they all gave good reviews as well.
The boys are (loudly) playing poker in the living room so I’m going to stay up and try to get some work done before my busy weekend begins. I just spent 45 minutes catching up on the phone with my parents too. Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Wednesdays are my long days (8 – 4:40 on campus) but today didn’t feel so bad. I’ve fallen into the swing of 8 am classes and my friend Janessa and I had a group project to work on that filled up our long break between classes. Throughout the day I did eat all of my packed lunch components. I also bought a short apple cider from the school coffee shop.
This wasn’t a total fail like the Tim Horton’s cider, but it still tasted a lot like warm apple juice.
I need to find a good cider before the end of September Apple Month!
Adam came to pick me up at the end of the day and wanted me to go to Wegmans with him to pick something up for school. He plied me with hot bar.
I caved easily. To be fair, I genuinely needed some greens to go with my dinner.
Plus a few pieces of chicken for good measure.
It’s a good thing I was still hungry when I got home (ha! when am I ever not still hungry?) because I got to work cooking an actual dinner.
I’m not sure what corn chowder is supposed to look like but to me that looks like success.
I pulled the recipe for Bacon-Corn Chowder with Shrimp from Cooking Light last month but I was waiting until it felt more like fall to try it out. Here were my changes –
I gave myself a large serving and happily tucked into the first soup of the season.
Adam and I thought that the recipe was good, but not amazing like we wanted it to be. I wanted the flavors to be more vibrant and definitely sweeter. I think a large part of the problem was using frozen corn; I’d love to make this again but with fresh corn off the cob. We gave it a 6.5/10 but considering how low-calorie it was (~300 calories for 1 and 2/3 cups) the flavor certainly wasn’t bad.
My taste buds weren’t fully satisfied by the meal though. I actually ended up making myself an after-dinner coffee.
A little bit of lukewarm coffee, a Tbsp of sugar, and a lotta bit of Plain Silk Almond Milk. I hope the caffeine doesn’t keep me up!
When Adam got home at 3 o’clock (two hours late, I might add) we realized that neither of us and had eaten all day and we were both starving. Waiting for dinner wasn’t an option because of our stomachs, eating at home wasn’t at options because of our pantry, and grabbing food close by wasn’t an option because we’re growing tired of Elmwood take-out. To the internets!
I found a Groupon for Mississippi Mudds that we could buy and use this afternoon so we headed out.
The food was cheap and sounded good so we were excited to try something new.
Adam and I got a spread to share and headed to the roof for a meal with a view.
Problem # 1 – The complete and total bee infestation at Mississippi Mudds scared us back inside in a matter of minutes. Problem # 2 – The food was freaking bad.
I ordered the seafood salad sandwich.
I knew that there was a chance of the fake crab mix but this was basically egg salad! I ate about 1/3 before giving up. Plus, even with my small serving I was left completely nauseous which means I’m probably sensitive to one of the preservatives in the fake crab mixture. <– yet another reason it’s better to eat whole foods
Adam and I also split the sweet potato fries with honey and butter (on the side).
I imagine it’s hard to produce a product that is both undercooked and burnt but they managed. The fries were cold too, which was pretty much the final straw for us. We’d give Mississippi Mudds a 1.5/10; the only positive was that we used a Groupon so we only had to pay 50%.
So in spite of our efforts to branch out, the bulk of lunch ended up coming from our old standby. Wegman’s hot bar can basically do no wrong. I got a broccoli mixture and a cauliflower mixture, plus some apple cider sweet and sour chicken.
Still cheap, but now healthy and delicious!
I have a less busy weekend with time for school work so I spent my afternoon watching tv instead of studying. I’m typically not an emotional eater (I eat junk because it makes me happy, not because I’m sad) but I will admit that the full glass of Arnold Palmer the dog spilled on the couch did push me towards the this mint chocolate chip swirl cupcake.
I ate the top half of the cake with icing, because that’s the good part anyways.
The husband and I weren’t hungry again for dinner until pretty late in the evening so we wanted something quick. Thank you HLS swag bag, for the mini fillo shells.
Our final meal was “Strawberry Fields” themed.
We baked the mini fillo shells with chunky peanut butter, diced strawberries, and a sprinkle of brown sugar.
I ate 6 (technically two servings for 90 calories total) and the pb&j feel was perfect.
On the side we had salads with leftover diced strawberries.
Also romaine lettuce, roasted buckwheat groats, crumbled blue cheese, and Newman’s Own Light Caesar Dressing.
Cheese plus fruit (particularly blue or goat cheese with any type of berry) is a combo that never fails.
Fellow HLS attendees; what did you do with your fillo shells?
Today’s eats were a little strange, which made them perfect mood food since I feel a little strange. I’m an odd mix of nerves and excitement about heading back to school tomorrow. I’m thrilled about getting back on a schedule but I’m worried that I’m planning on working on too many goals (being a better student, getting on a workout schedule, cooking more often). I don’t want to set myself up to fail by trying to do/change too much.
I spent my morning setting up the office for school and worked right through breakfast. Side note – trying to figure out which notes to save for registration exam studying is brutal. I’m not sure whether I’m throwing away things I need or saving so much that it will be overwhelming.
I didn’t want to head to the grocery on a completely empty stomach so I stirred a scoop of protein powder into a glass of skim milk.
It wasn’t very good (it tasted about as good as it looks), apparently I only like our protein powder after it’s been through the blender.
I did get myself a small but delicious salad from the hot bar too.
A spring mix lettuce base with tarragon vinaigrette, topped with a scoop of corn and kidney bean salad,
a scoop of veggie lo mein,
and a tiny piece of smoked salmon and brie.
The whole combo was super tasty, I think I may need to do salad at the hot bar more often. I really want to like smoked (basically raw) salmon and usually I’m too afraid but today I loved it.
When I got home Adam and I took a quick walk through the Elmwood Art Festival. We were naughty and snuck in our own beverages.
The Woodchuck Limited Release Winter Hard Cider is wonderful. It tastes more like a vanilla-scented apple juice than something boozey. Also when I went to the site to link for you guys I discovered that they make a pumpkin variety! <– must find
I knew dinner was going to be on the small side, so I made myself a tasty yogurt bowl to supplement when we got home.
Low-fat coffee yogurt with 1oz of honey roasted peanuts and a drizzle of honey.
One of those combos from when I was a kid that I still love.
We didn’t have any set plans for dinner, but I did want to make a batch of Jenna’s Sweet and Spicy BBQ Beans to have for lunches this week.
I used 2+ cups worth of extra kale and it came out fabulously. This recipe – which really is sweet and spicy – gives the best chew.
We decided to make the beans the bulk of dinner.
Such a good plan! I topped my serving with shredded Parmesan, more Sriracha, and a dollop of 0% Plain Fage.
Dee-lish! I sort of ate around the cheese to save it for the end and I was swooning by my last bite.
To round out my meal with carbs I turned to popcorn.
1 serving, topped with melted butter and cinnamon sugar. I can’t think of a better way to face a new school year than popcorn.
Who else is heading back to school this year?
This post is going to be huge, so there are a few facts I want to establish before I begin –
* The Healthy Living Summit (HLS) was fabulous and I had a wonderfully fun time. However, since I didn’t have internet all weekend this is going to be a monster post and I’m not going to include as many details as I’d like.
* I met and hung out with some amazing people. So many, in fact, that I think it makes the most sense for me not to link back to anyone.
* I snapped a photo of every piece of food that went into my mouth but I wasn’t so good on people or places; I was too busy enjoying those things to photograph them.
So, this happened exactly halfway between Buffalo and Philly –
Usually a picture of a flat tire would be followed by many four letter words but the only one I could think of was l-u-c-k. My trip to Philly was greasy, two hours longer than planned and completely exhausting, but I actually started crying because I felt so grateful. The things I am thankful for –
Isn’t the world amazing? Before the whole debacle I drank a guava Rockstar for breakfast,
and afterwards I shakily ate the half turkey sandwich with cheese and cranberry mayo that I packed from the Co-op.
And I made it (with aching forearms) to Philly with time to shower and change before the HLS cocktail party.
The drinks, provided by Drink Chia, were super tasty.
This cocktail was a mix (I believe) of Drink Chia, strawberries, and vodka. It tasted sort of like a bubble tea with mini bobba!
The food was pretty good as well.
I had a corn and crab fritter, a piece of pretzel crusted chicken, a few small bites, plus another piece of the chicken.
Everything was tasty but there wasn’t quite enough sustenance for dinner so a few of us ended up in the hotel restaurant for a late night snack.
I went with the s’mores mousse shooter.
Plus I scarfed up one of the Lindt truffles they brought with the bill.
It was a sweet end to the first day.
The next morning (Saturday) we were up bright and early for breakfast. Cereal with skim milk,
an Oikos drinkable yogurt with a juicy plum – sidenote, I feel like I had food dripping down my face this whole weekend! –
and a much-needed coffee.
Around this point I realized I probably should be snapping more pictures like a good blogger.
Though I did snag a shot of me with two of my roomies.
I didn’t love the Quaker Smashbar provided on the snack break so I only ate half of it.
But I did love the RD Quaker provided as the key-note speaker. She wrote a book on being a flexatarian and I loved her points about embracing plants more than avoiding meats. In fact, all of the sessions were pretty darn informative and inspirational.
Before I knew it, it was time for lunch.
Side salad for greens,
quinoa salad, which had some sort of acid component that took it over the top,
and half a tofu sandwich on Great Harvest bread, squeal!
For dessert I grabbed a milk chocolate crunch Attune probiotic bar.
I had no idea these would be so delicious! I was very excited to see some coupons in my swag bag.
After the sessions we went to do some city exploring.
Here are all my roomates,
and here is the Liberty Bell.
I’m glad we sight-saw in the way that we did, because our travels took us to Farmacia for dinner.
Yum, seriously just yum x 1000. The wait staff was so sweet and accommodating of our 12-person party, the space was adorable, and the food was delicious.
I was ravenous and I think my heart actually skipped a beat when this bread and herbed butter were brought to the table.
I ate this slice times two.
Since it was a vacation I went with a John Daly to drink.
Sweet tea vodka and fresh squeezed lemonade, yes please! A few people sipped my drink and we all agreed it was the best Arnold Palmer ever.
And then came the food. Which was basically ridiculous.
I ordered the sweet corn and risotto croquettes. Which came with garden veggie ratatouille,
and sautéed spinach that blew my mind. It must have been the butter sauce that was floating on my plate.
The spinach was the best thing I ate all weekend, but the croquettes were perfect too; crunchy and creamy all at the same time. I ate 1.5 croquettes and all of my veggies and was basically in heaven.
You know I have to get self-serve froyo if I’m in a new city.
I got peanut butter, cream cheese (!!), and tart, topped with all the berries, caramel sauce, and sprinkles.
Fueled by sugar, a group of us stayed up until practically 3am! Normally a 3 am bedtime and 8 am Sunday workout would feel brutal, but I think I was too excited to be tired. I don’t have any pictures, but I did participate in the HLS 5k. A huge group walked/ran around the city including the Rocky steps.
When we got back it was time for oatmeal.
Topped with flax, cinnamon, and walnuts.
I also had about a billion mugs of Tazo Earl Grey tea with skim milk.
I am completely obsessed (I stole a few packets from breakfast!) and need to buy this asap.
After the festivities wrapped, a group of us did some more exploring around Philly.
This is what happens when you give bloggers a group photo-op –
For lunch we sought out Philly cheese steaks. I found success at the Basic 4 Vegetarian Snack Bar.
This monster was vegan, but there is basically no way that the traditional meat sandwich could be better.
I left a lot of the bread, but gobbled up the “meat” which was crunchy in the most pleasing way. Such a great way to end the weekend!
Around 2 I made my final goodbyes and headed out. Though I did stop at Whole Foods for an Argo Tea Mojitea for the road.
It was very tasty, but my next two drinks were much more telling. A grande white mocha coconut frappuccino with 2 extra shots of espresso.
And a huge diet pop with a splash of cherry coke.
Can you say exhausted?! But I made it home in one piece and had a wonderful weekend to boot!
Did you attend HLS? What’d you think?
Eating Chalk 