Tag Archives: smoothie

Under the Influence

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Hello from PA!  It was a loooong day in the car but we made it.  I’m more than ready for bed, and I have an actual topic to discuss, so I’ll keep the food recaps quick.

Breakfast this morning was a new kind of Green Monster.

For two (Adam and I) I blended 2cups frozen spinach, 1cup frozen strawberries, and 2cups skim milk.  They were ok, not even close to my regular GM love.

The reason I made the crappy new Green Monsters was because the husband tends to not like oj in smoothies, but was willing to give spinach smoothies a try.  Adam almost never eats breakfast, and doesn’t eat anywhere near enough servings of veggies, so if I could get him on the Green Monster band wagon it would be positive all around.  I know it seems like I eat a lot of crap (especially in comparison to the other healthy living bloggers) but in general I’ve been a good influence on the husband’s diet since we met.

  • He eats far less red meat now, maybe once a month or so.  He grew up in a more than once a day meat family.
  • He’s even gotten on board with the occasional vegetarian dinner.  And surprise – he loves tofu!
  • 90% of what I cook is healthy.
  • I always keep the house stocked with healthy snacks.
  • And even though he eats his own junk from time to time, he’s basically stopped eating any trans fat because of what I’ve told him about it.

Obviously as a medical student the husband has more health knowledge than the average American, but it feels really great to help someone I love make good choices.

For brunch (eaten at 9:30am?) I polished off the rest of the gumbo.

So fricking good, I can’t wait to share this recipe with y’all!

And when we got on the road we split a bag of Fizzy Skittles.

I am in love with the new nutritional panels I’ve been seeing on some products.  Obviously that blurb doesn’t tell the whole story (and there is complete info on the back) but I love being able to know calories at a glance.

By 7 we were starving for dinner.  When we pulled off Adam got giddy at the sight of this –

Eat n’ Park.  Meh.  I’m not big on diner food but he was very excited.  This is where the husband influences my choices (and not for the better!) I ended up ordering an Oreo Milkshake with my meal.

I always request skim milk when I order a milkshake.  I get no more enjoyment from a whole milk milkshake (in fact I much prefer skim) so it never hurts to ask.  Never be embarrassed to make healthy substitutions, even to a not-so-healthy order!

For dinner I ordered the pirogues.

I was starving but these were just not good.  I ate about 1/3 and then I stopped.  I know I’m not exactly the picture of good choices, but I do have one hard and fast rule – If it’s not good for me and I don’t like it I don’t eat it.  There are so many foods that I love and so many foods that are good for me, why eat something ho-hum just because it’s there?

You’ll never guess where we ended up stopping to get me the rest of my dinner –

Wegman’s salad bar!  I got lots of veggies and I loved them.  I’m not gonna lie, I picked all of the broccoli out of the container!

I also love these quad-containers, perfect portion control.  Thai style tofu and veggies,

General’s chicken,

and Paneer Mutter.

Yums!  I gave Adam a big bite of all three dishes and he loved them as well.

I was left perfectly satisfied by dinner, and probably should have just said no to pizza at the in-laws, but it just looked too tasty.

A weekend trip isn’t exactly a ‘vacation,’ tomorrow I’m going to try to eat a little less crap.  It’s bedtime in these parts, sweet dreams!

How have you influenced your significant other’s eating habits?  What healthy changes have you inspired (or been inspired by)?

Bags and Burst Bubbles

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Hi all!  This needs to be quick or I’ll be late to class.  I mostly wanted to warn you guys that I’ll probably get my tests back today so don’t expect a chipper dinner post 😦

I ended up eating an entire bag of green beans of lunch.

Roasted with a bit of salt they are just so addictive!

I ate while watching another addiction; “Mercy,” so bad and yet so good!

And managed to get in a fabulous 20minute strength/stretch session.  Yays!  Even though I’m not at a gym, my mats still get grimy, so I pulled out this bag of wipes my mom got me.

Good smell + natural + clean up = triple duty.

I also just made my first fresh (as in not frozen) spinach Green Monster.

It was good, but I prefer the thicker consistency of my frozen spinach ones.  Sorry to all my readers who like me and want to think I’m cool – not to burst your bubble, but yes I totally matched my outfit to my smoothie!

Equations of Sorts

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It’s 9:20 and I would kill to already be in bed so I’ll keep this short and sweet.  My day went lab –> people watching on campus –> doctor’s appointment/waiting for the husband’s doctor’s appointment –>  eating junk whilst watching tv –> this super lame post.

Breakfast = green.

1cup frozen spinach, 1cup oj, 1 frozen banana.

Lunch = sandwich + spicy.

Bread, sliced turkey, spinach, Crofters superfruit spread, cheese.  Looks unassuming, but the Yancey’s Farm Buffalo Wing cheese was intense.

Plus a sliced jazz apple.

A less healthy snack.

1 small mint milkshake – minty flavor = half a milkshake in the trash.

Dinner = Moes.

Chicken Homewrecker Jr (that’s a small plate).

I swear on a Big Gulp of diet coke that I will have an actual post tomorrow.  And some good news!

Movement is Good

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We’re going to pretend like I didn’t magically skip two days of posting, ok?  Ok.  Because in reality it was more like I skipped two days of life, leaving not a whole lot to post about.  My first test went pretty badly, probably because I spent Thursday watching TV and eating nachos.  And my bone scan appointment was canceled indefinitely because the hospital waited to call me until 10hours before my exam to tell me that I had to have an in-state referral.

Since my journey back into fitness could be a long time coming (now I don’t even have a doctor’s time-frame) it’s officially time for me to quit wallowing.  I can’t do any form of cardio (swimming would probably work but there’s no pool available) and I can’t strength train at my gym (I’m walking better but stairs are super painful and my gym has a ton) but that doesn’t mean I have to sit on my butt and get fat fatter.

So I stayed in bed and felt sad until the husband left at 9 this morning and then I decisively limped to the living room to set up my workout area.

20minutes later I had completed arm/ab/back/leg strength work and stretching.  I felt great to “move” again!

I was less excited about cleaning around the house, but I made myself do that before my shower too.  Then I made the husband and I a tasty brunch.

Adam is sick so I made the smoothies around his tastes.  For two – 2medium bananas, 7oz frozen peaches, 2T fat free sugar free pudding mix, 1cup oj.

I’ve got to clip some coupons and do my recipe planning while I sip my smoothie (lots of alliteration in that sentence!) and then we are headed to the grocery store.  We are hoping to head to the movies later too.  Happy Saturday!

I need your help!  Does anyone have a genius non-impact cardio suggestion that I haven’t thought of yet? 

In Need of a Green Beer

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Happy Festivus!  No wait, that was yesterday’s post, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  If you don’t know what Festivus is your life has been empty and you should check out this wikipedia post.

My late night/early morning combo didn’t leave me feeling that chipper but I knew I had to get my green on –

my nails are rocking a shamrock hue as well –

And breakfast, consumed on the way to 8am lab, was a Green Monster.

We were out of bananas so this guy had 1cup frozen spinach, 1cup oj, and 1/2cup frozen peaches.

Lab went well, I am all done with my post-calculations which always makes me happy.

Adam picked me up from campus around noon so we could finally replenish our stores at the grocery.  It was a quick trip, nothing too exciting, because frankly I’m too busy to do much cooking until after my two exams are over.  We did get an exciting lunch though.

Random roasted veggies,

Chan Marsala and Tandori chicken,

and a piece of Nann for sauce scooping.

Now I’ve got some random business to take care off before I meet Caroline at the Spot for an evening study date.

Curious about my half marathon?

Check out my personalized results page, click here.

To my lucky NYC readers –

SELF Work-out in the Park is coming soon, Saturday, May 8th.  I had a great time last year and I’m super sad to not be able to go again.  If you are interested tickets are $20 in advance, available here.

Like Old Mother Hubbard

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Y’all would not even believe how empty my cupboards and fridge are.  The husband didn’t buy groceries even once during my entire 10 day vacation!  I was a good wife who left him ingredients and recipes, which he dutifully cooked, but now we are running on empty.  Unfortunately we can’t make it to the store until tomorrow because today is so packed.

I pretty much only had 2-3 options for lunch so I went with a smoothie.

A tasty, tangy, tropical smoothie!

  • 4oz frozen passionfruit pulp
  • 1cup frozen tropical fruit blend
  • 3/4 cup pineapple juice – – – from a can of pineapple, literally the only liquid left in the house!

I’m heading off to class soon (it’s my first day on campus with crutches, should be interesting) and I’ve got loads more schoolwork to do when I get home.  I promise after these two tests – Chem on Friday, Anthro on Monday – I will be more interesting!

How do you get creative when the cupboards are bare?

Sandwiches, Smoothies, and Schedules

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Hello again, happy Monday!  This will definitely be the longest recap post I’ve done in a while – Friday through Monday.  Physically things have been low-key but mentally there’s been lots of drama – my flight was canceled!  And since I’m in St. Thomas it could have meant getting into Buffalo on Tuesday and not having a ride and missing class.  I was freaking out a bit.  Thankfully 45minutes on the phone + my firm but calm voice got me on a different flight that leaves/gets in on pretty much the same schedule.  And now my layover is shorter and in Philly and not Charlotte.  🙂

I’m a big proponent of the firm but calm voice.  I was polite, and said multiple please and thank yous, but unwavering.  I didn’t ask whether or not I could get on another flight, I simply said “I will be leaving St. Thomas tomorrow, what can you do to help me make that happen?”  And it worked.

Anyway, back to Friday.  My mom served me a slice of cake,

which promptly got stripped of it’s icing because I don’t eat cake.

Then I moved on to greens, a small container I put together at the salad bar we stopped by.

Lettuce, beans, corn, cheese, 1 hard-boiled egg and a drizzle of light Cesar.

I also made myself some frozen coffee – coffee, ice, skim milk, and 2T sugar.

Soo much better than Starbucks could ever do.

Dinner was all about the leftovers.

Oven baked okra is kind of my favorite.

And I served up some leftover baked tofu on toasted rye with hot pepper raspberry preserves and sharp cheddar.

Friday night I did end up going out to meet some friends.  We had a good time and I had a few drinks but photo-taking was abandoned in favor of trying to keep my balance on one leg!  I don’t know how on earth I managed to stand on one leg past 2am but a fun time was had by all.

For Saturday morning breakfast my mom and I hit up one of my favorite places on earth – Barefoot Buddha.  I had fresh-made lemonade,

and a Bigfoot Bagel Sandwich.

Frittata, smoked turkey, turkey bacon, cream cheese, spicy sauce…

I love these sandwiches so much I ate them on my wedding day!  I know most brides say they are too nervous to eat but I was just nervous my friends would devour them before I got any 😀

We hung out and studied for a bit and I had a passionfruit, banana, coconut smoothie.

We laid low the rest of the day before going out to a fabulous dinner at The Cellar.  We did a lot of sharing and the lighting was low so let me apologize for the picture quality in advance.

There were way too many things I wanted off the drink menu but I finally settled on the Caribbean Champagne.

Champagne with coconut rum and key lime juice.  GREAT combination.

We split a cheese plate that was kind of out of this world.  The goat cheese was my favorite but the stewed plums were pretty fantastic as well.

My plate –

And at The Cellar the chef always sends out an amuse bouche.

Ahi wontons.

Plus homemade bread and butter.

For my meal I got the Vegetable Cutlet – panfried, potatoes, peas, carrots, eggplant and pickled papaya, and tiki masala sauce.

The cutlets were delicious but my favorite part of the entire meal was the eggplant wrapped papaya.  I ate one cutlet and took the other home, and I had a few bites of my dad’s tamarind mahi as well.

We were stuffed, but couldn’t not order a dessert plate to share.  It came with little forks,

because we got four little desserts!

NY cheesecake with fruit sauce and bananas foster,

cinnamon creme brulee and chocolate mousse.

Yum, yum, yum; I wished I could have had a BIG serving of the bananas foster.

Sunday morning I made a nice green monster for breakfast.

My mom and I got our nails done (green again, I’ll show you later!) and then I picked up nachos for lunch from the bar I used to work at.

Yum, but I think it’s time to be fully done with any sort of nachos for a while.

We saw a matinée of “Our Family Wedding,” during which I munched on a box of Nerds.

I would like to show you dinner but it was so dark at our table I never could get a picture.  I shared green bean fries with my parents and ate half of a tamarind turkey burger.

When I got home I had 2 maple pecan sticky blondies for dessert.

Dreena would be sad to know I deveganized these, but at least I made the recipe for my parents!

This morning (Monday) I’m hanging out at school for a bit before I head home to pack.  I brought a pineapple Chiobani for breakfast,

but that didn’t begin to cut it.

I ended up also having an egg and cheese biscuit from Wendy’s.

It is 100% time to stop eating like I’m on vacation!  Especially because I’m not sure what the workout situation with my leg is going to be like.

I had fabulous spring break but I am more than ready to get back with the husband and back on a schedule.  I get in late tonight so I won’t be posting today’s eats but hopefully Tuesday my sleeping, eating, and blogging will all be back on track!  I can tell you now though, that I have a Greek Gods honey yogurt in the freezer for a pre-packing treat!

When you get to the end of a vacation are you sad it’s over or ready to get back to business?

Busy Busy Bee

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I want to get my packing done this evening and I HAVE to squeeze in some quality time with the husband so I’ll keep this snappy.  `_< (oh yes, that was an alligator!)

I like to make to-go smoothies for breakfast on the mornings I have 8am lab.  My first proclamations were not wrong: I love Green Monsters!

This had 1 frozen banana, 1 cup oj, and 1 cup frozen spinach.  I took a better lit picture at la escuela to show of its Kermit-esque awesomeness.

I was in the bathroom because I realized I couldn’t not show you guys today’s layered look!

Love it!  Adam and Katie both asked me why I was dressed up today.

I was with Katie because we had a lunch date today!  I packed us a lovely spread from home to save a little $.

 Turkey and 2% provolone sandwiches with hot pepper peach preserves.

And caramel Oikos with blueberries.

We ate at the Wegman’s coffee bar area and Katie bought me a lovely Nutty Irish (hazelnut and Irish cream syrups) skim milk latte.

After lunch we walked around the store a bit and I managed to get some gifts for the friends I’m seeing tomorrow that I’m quite excited about.

On the way home we split this package of Newman’s Own Peppermint Cups.

Meh.  They aren’t bad I guess but I much prefer Yorks.

Adam had a suture clinic from 5 – 8 so he dropped me off at the Spot to do some studying.  I am completely caught up for Chemistry, yay!  I got dinner there, a Mike’s cheese and egg bagel sandwich.

Plus a skim iced latte.

Still on the agenda for tonight?

  • pack everything but my chargers into my suitcase
  • separate the laundry
  • paint my toe nails and shave my legs, eek!
  • cuddle with the husband and try not to cry about 12 days apart

Gotta get cracking!

*****Updated to add – packing is never fun.  Which is probably why this seemed like such a good idea –

Shamrock Shake!  😀