Tag Archives: squash

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

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I may have had water at the beer garden but I did manage to sneak some booze into my St. Patrick’s Day.

Iced coffee with Tres Leches Liqueur and Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk.

I enjoyed my beverage on a walk with the husband and the dog.  It was warm enough to do this –

Spring has sprung!

We all made sure to get our green on today,

even Mother Earth.

It was the perfect day for a walk and apparently we weren’t the only ones who thought so because the sidewalks were packed.  Or maybe people just heard that the Co-op was giving out free carrot cake samples?

It was a fruitful day, I also snagged some samples at the grocery store.  Some peanuts, fresh squeezed blood orange juice, and a big hunk of cheese in addition to the cake.

I also had a pear,

and a 0% Oikos Greek Yogurt with Caramel on the bottom.

Awhile back I complained about the texture changes in Stonyfield yogurt and a company rep sweetly offered to send me some coupons for products I might like more.  You can assume that the next few Oikos products I mention were freebies.  This caramel Oikos was delicious and the texture was perfect, smooth and decadent.

I topped it with a handful of Heath Bar crumbles and it made a great afternoon treat.

I was pretty hungry all afternoon so we ended up making an early, easy dinner.

Tricolor six cheese tortellini with marinara sauce, and roasted sliced mushrooms and shredded zucchini.

Tasty, tasty.  I kept my portion on the small side because my evening plans include a HUGE bowl of popcorn.  Also Stargate: Atlantis.  A real party animal, that’s what I am!

What did you do for St. Patrick’s Day?

My Meal At T.G.I.Friday’s

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Disclaimer – I was given the opportunity to sample the new menu at TGIF free of charge.  As always, my thoughts are my own.

The other day I had the opportunity to try the new menu at T.G.I.Friday’s.    The new menu is currently out in Buffalo, Minneapolis, and Denver and a group of local bloggers were given the opportunity to come and taste some of the new dishes.  I brought my friend Kim along and we had a really great time.

There is a T.G.I.Friday’s across the street from campus at UMiami and there was a year in undergrad when Adam and I were going pretty much weekly.  I’d get the pecan crusted chicken salad, every single time.  But it’s been awhile and I’ve not had very good luck with chains locally.  I have to be honest that when the offer came in I wasn’t expecting to be all that impressed.  But here’s the thing – everything we tried was great!  Like, everything.  And I realize that those dishes were being put out specifically to serve to a group of local food bloggers, but I was impressed enough that I plan on going back on my own.

You can read about the items here so I’m not going to waste your time by regurgitating the menu.  Instead, I’ll share a few of my thoughts.  We had the opportunity to ask questions and I did my best to ensure that vegetarian dishes were truely vegetarian.  I loved how many options were available for non-meat eaters.  There were also some good-looking beef dishes added to the menu, but since I didn’t taste them myself I’m not going to comment on them.

Peach Sweet Tea.

This was made with peach puree, agave, and black tea.  I’m not the hugest sweet tea fan but this wasn’t too-too sweet and you could taste that the peaches were not fake.

Heavenly Hummus Dip

The hummus was made with roasted red pepper paste which gave a nice layer of flavor under the tahini.  It was topped with goat cheese crumbles which is not a combo I would have expected.  The flavor was good, but very garlicy so be aware if that’s not your thing.  We were told that the hummus is made fresh every day.  It was served fresh with pita toasts that seemed very fresh as well.

Warm Pretzels with Beer Cheese Dipping Sauce

This was my favorite appetizer (duh!).  I know that not everyone is as obsessed with movie theatre pretzel bites as I am, but I promise this app feels fancier than that.  The pretzels are supremely soft and they are brushed with a basil butter that gives them this great, unidentifiable taste (I had to ask).  The beer cheese sauce wasn’t gritty or too sour.  Ask for no bacon on top if you don’t eat pork.  They recently changed from cooking the sauce with bacon to sprinkling it on top so that this accommodation could be made.

Ahi Tuna with Avocado Crisps

I took a bite of this expecting to spit it out and ended up eating the entire thing.  Seared ahi tuna is served on top of tortilla crisps with Sriracha, guacamole, lemon vinaigrette, and a fresh jalapeño.  The blend of flavors and textures really helped me get over the fact that I was eating raw fish.  I loved the fresh jalapeño on top; it gave great crunch and the guacamole helped to mellow out the heat.

I don’t have a photo of the Sedona Black Bean Burger but I wanted to mention it because it was amazing.  It’s a black bean burger topped with chipotle mayo, avocado, and great thick-sliced pickles.  The burger had a nice texture and held together perfectly and the sandwich had just the right amount of spice.  This felt nice and meaty but is actually a good vegetarian option (it’s not vegan because egg whites are used in the bean patties).

Grilled Vegetable Dagwood

I should say right now that the three sandwich options were my three favorites.  This sandwich was fantasmic and Kim and I both made ourselves a little sick because we just couldn’t stop taking bites of it. Two pieces of extra-soft pita were stuffed with spinach, goat cheese, roasted veggies (eggplant!), and mango chutney.  You never see mango chutney on American menus and it really adds a lot of flavor to any dish.

Turkey Cranberry Rueben

What, what?!  It’s a Rueban… and it’s made with turkey so I don’t have to request a menu change… and it has cranberries?  Sign me up!  Actually the cranberry component was in cranberry jalapeño slaw and cranberry jalapeño thousand island dressing, which is even better.  I liked that it had a Goldilocks amount of turkey on it (not too little or too much) but I do recommend requesting that it be grilled without butter.

Victory Garden Pasta

Whole wheat penne with veggies (brocoli, mushrooms, olives! and more) and goat cheese in a lemon sauce.  If you request no goat cheese this one would be vegan.  The pasta was not my cup of tea but that’s just my taste preference because it was Kim’s favorite.  I love the throwback name.

Overall, I was very impressed the amount and variety of veggies that made it onto the new menu.  And I like that the prices are still pretty low in spite of some “fancier” additions, i.e. avocado and goat cheese.  It’s sort of awkward to write a review that doesn’t say anything bad because I think my readers will assume that I’m lying, but I promise that my experience was genuinely just a good one.  If you get try the new menu for yourself please let me know what you think!

What is your favorite chain restaurant?

Thai Chicken Pizza

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Is anyone else wishing it was Thursday?  Actually, I’m wishing it was still Monday!  I have a lot (a lot, a lot, a lot) of big school stuff going on this week and I’m so not ready.  I spent too much of my morning worrying and not enough of it working.  Such is life; and I finally got over feeling overwhelmed and got some serious work done this evening.

Breakfast was berrytastic.

Greek Gods Honey Strawberry Greek Yogurt topped with blackberries and a drizzle of maple syrup.

I underestimated how sweet the fresh berries would be (not sour at all!) and this bowl ended up being a little too sugary.  The full-fat Greek Yogurt is sweeter than the 0% varieties too.  But the new-to-me flavor receives two thumbs up.

I also made myself something hot for the walk to school.

A double-brewed (2 bags tea to 1 cup water) mug of Tea Republic’s red velvet tea with sugar and plain almond milk.

We had a mock Statistics test today before our first real test on Thursday and it went pretty well.  We are allowed to bring a “cheat sheet” in so I’m not too worried.  I do have to actually make the sheet though!

When I got home I found a package of homemade goodies from my mother-in-law.

I helped myself to many white chocolate dipped pretzels with sprinkles.

And for lunch I helped myself to one of the husband’s tupperwares.

I made him spaghetti with turnip greens, brocoli, and tomato sauce for lunches this week.  I gussied up my stolen bowl by reheating it in a skillet with evoo and an egg.

The crunchy, almost burnt bits are my favorite.  And not to worry, I packed Adam a sandwich for tomorrow.

Speak of the devil my hero, when Adam got home this afternoon he made me a big bowl of airpopped ‘corn.

I haaaate cleaning the airpopper and Adam is so sweet to me about regularly dealing with it.  As long as you leave off the butter, popcorn makes the best study snack.

Dinner was inspired by my favorite chain restaurant meal.

California Pizza Kitchen’s Thai Chicken Pizza.  The Thai Chicken Salad is my favorite but the pizza’s a close second.

For our version we topped a store-bought crust with –

  • Wegman’s peanut sauce
  • shredded chicken
  • chopped green onions
  • leftover carrots from the Bahn Mi
  • 2% reduced fat mozzarella
  • cocktail peanuts
  • sesame oil (rubbed into the crust)

It was fantastic!  I could only finish one of my slices though; apparently half a pizza was a little too much!  But I ate all of my roasted zucchini.

Other than green beans (the long-term reigning favorite), zucchini is this year’s favorite vegetable for roasting.

What is your favorite chain restaurant?

What Do Vegan Zombies Eat?

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Graaaaaaaaaaaaains!

<– I heard that joke at Jekyll and Hyde when Adam and I went there our first year in NYC.  The food wasn’t very good and the drinks were overpriced, but that joke has stuck in my repertoire.

After a week of eating takeout (crap) I am more than ready to get back to healthier living.  I’ve got my kitchen mojo back and was ready to bang out two healthy home-cooked meals today.

Lunch was an old recipe that got some needed updates.

Berry Better Than Spaghetti, serves 5

  • 1 cup hard red winter wheat berries
  • 2 tsp evoo
  • 2 heaping cups frozen turnip greens
  • half a large red onion, roughly chopped
  • 14 oz package ground beef style veggie protein
  • 24 oz jar marinara sauce
  1. In a covered pot, soak the wheat berries overnight in 4 cups of cold water.
  2. Place the pot over high heat and set a timer for 50 minutes.  When the wheat berries have come to a boil reduce the heat and simmer for the remaining time.  After 50 minutes, remove from heat and drain any remaining water.
  3. While the wheat berries are cooking, heat 1 tsp evoo in a large pan over medium-high heat.
  4. Place turnip greens in pan and cook 2 minutes, stirring regularly.  Season with salt and pepper.
  5. Add remaining tsp evoo and onions to pan and cook 2 minutes.
  6. Add veggie protein to pan and cook 4 minutes, using the side of your spatula to break up the “meat” into smaller pieces.
  7. Reduce heat to low, and add cooked wheat berries and marinara sauce to pan for a final 3 minutes.

The amalgam of textures and flavors was just perfect, wheat berries give great chew.

And this dish freezes well so I’ve got two servings in the freezer for the next week when we don’t feel like cooking.

I walked to school this afternoon and slowly sipped a soda through my two-hour class.  It’s been 12 hours and I’m still overjoyed about not having to wear my retainers during the day.

After class I stayed at school to work on a group project with my friend Kim.  Among other things, we made this –

We’re doing a nutrition lesson at a pre-school in a few weeks and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.

When I got home I had a dapple plucot.

And a toasted bagel with strawberry jam and SmartBalance Light.

I made it to-go because I multitasked and ate while I walked the dog.

Dinner was similar to lunch – grain, veg, sauce – but fabulous in its own way.

Tempeh Brown Rice Casserole, serves 4

  • 1 cup (raw) brown rice, prepared according to package directions
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1.5 heaping cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
  • 12 oz tempeh, chopped
  • 3/4 cup nayonaise
  • 1 cup green salsa
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.
  2. Heat a dry skillet over medium-high heat.  Place nuts in skillet with a pinch of salt.  Cook 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly.  When the nuts are just starting to smell toasty they’re done.
  3. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir to incorporate.  Pour into a greased 8×8 casserole dish.
  4. Bake for 20 minutes.

Plus a side of roasted zucchini.

This green meal was also great.

My plans for the rest of the evening include a trip to the gym; no ifs, ands, or buts!

Off the top of your head – grain + veg + sauce; what would you combine?

See If They’ve Got Any Chocolate Bananas, Foster

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Did everyone have a fun Friday?  I slept through most of mine, hence the Saturday recap post.

I woke up a little bit late(r than desired) yesterday so I headed to straight to the gym.  CT10k 1.3 called for 10 sets of 2 minutes running, 3 minutes walking.  50 minutes and 3.9 miles.  My workout was great, but I cut the time a little too close.  I had to literally jog – ugg boots, purse, push-up bra and all – part of the way back to school to make it to class on time!

I’m glad I made it, we had a great guest lecturer; a local RD who is certified as a Diabetes Educator.  Once you’ve been an RD for couple of years there are all sorts of specialty certifications you can pursue.  I think one in weight loss counseling could be fun.

When the guest lecturer was gone, I managed to eat breakfast during some student presentations.  Leftovers for the win.

The Seven Layer Casserole just gets better and better!  I also had a Goya Soursop Nectar.

Soursop (aka guanabana) is my favorite fruit; it is too exciting that my Wegman’s recently expanded its Goya line.  A guy friend in class joked that I’ve been a Goya groupie lately, (this was only my 2nd item but I think they are memorable because they’re a little outside the norm for class snacking) but it’s the closest thing to what I grew up with.

I stayed at school for a bit to work after class to work in the Dietetics computer lab.  I have to complete a three-day diet analysis as part of my portfolio and I needed to use a program that is only available on the computers at school.  I think maybe my eats during Vegan Month are a little too obscure for the program though; I had to make my best guesses at product substitutes and the program told me that my average intake for the last three days was 978 kcal/day.  I don’t think so!

For lunch, I opened up this So Delicious Greek Style Plain Yogurt.

No.  Just no.  I knew it was a gamble when I bought it but I took the risk because I’ve adored everything else I’ve tried from So Delicious.  Sadly the yogurt was exactly as I’d feared – straight up chemical.  The texture wasn’t terrible but the taste was like licking a counter in chem lab.

Instead I ate the two plucots that were supposed to top my yogurt out of hand.

I almost shed a tear of happiness at the taste of these.  They were still a little bit too sour, but that means that plucot season is right around the corner.

For the rest of lunch I paced frantically waited patiently for my oven timer to ring.

Bananas Foster Bars!!!  If Seven Layer Casserole was #2, these bars are the #1 best thing from last year’s Vegan Month.  I ate three.

I’m not gonna lie and say that my stomach didn’t hurt, but I’m also not gonna lie and say it wasn’t totally worth it.

But since I ate ~700 calories worth of cookies I did keep dinner on the lighter side.  Or I was going to anyway.  The plan was soup, but apparently my hour-long nap – at noon, on the floor – wasn’t doing it because I fell into bed at 8:30 last night!  Yay catch-up sleep.

This morning Adam and I headed straight out on errands.  Probably not my best idea to skip breakfast when I slept through dinner, but I was a woman on a mission.  I got so hungry that I convinced myself that spending $3 on a Synergy Grape Chia Kombucha wasn’t a waste of money.

But it really wasn’t a waste of money because it was delicious!  I loved chewing through it and the flavor reminded me of a grape Laffy Taffy.  Adam and I shared it and even he was a fan by the end.

Our other share wasn’t quite as healthy.

Five Guys fries make my soul sing.  Seriously.  I’ve made a bigger effort this past week to eat less crap, but we’re doing a different challenge in March that necessitates shoveling in FGF now.

Lunch was healthy and tasty.

I love storing leftovers in tupperware because when you are combining you can shake things together to get a really good mix.  This time I shook barley, roasted broccoli, roasted butternut squash, and Wegman’s Thai Peanut Sauce.  Topped with a few cocktail peanuts.

Delicious.  We’ve been trying new things from the Co-op’s bulk bins lately and it’s been fun branching out.

I made myself a really delicious dinner.

But I only got to eat two bites.  All of the sudden, Webster – in the worst show of behavior I’ve ever seen from him – shoved his entire face into my bowl!  Hello, mess; goodbye, dinner.

[Updated Sunday Morning To Add]

The boys came over to play poker, he got even more crazy, and I got so irritated I ended up just going to bed.  So now I need to find a nice big breakfast.

Stupid dog.

Question of the day, from my post title – Name that movie!

By The Clock

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Thank you, Thursday, for being fabulous in a strange and wonderful way.  I was in a good mood all day.  I was busy with easy to do tasks, I had simple but tasty meals, and little bonuses kept popping up.

8:00 – Wake up with Adam still in bed.  He had a study day before an exam and I got to start my morning making a pile with him and the dog.

9:00 – Quick meeting with my Statistics teacher.  All of the homework I’ve done so far has been correct!  Plus she let me sit in on an earlier class session to accommodate a change in clinic schedule for the afternoon.

9:20 – Eat a Cappuccino Lara Bar for breakfast.

This is my favorite flavor LB for sure.  It’s not too strongly coffeed and it’s less date-y than other flavors.

11:00 – See the husband mid-day (squee!!!) when he graciously offers to drive me to UB for the lecture I’m attending.

12:00 – Attend a 1 hour lecture on diabetes mellitus and pharmacology.  We didn’t learn much that we can actually put into clinical practice, but it was a fascinating topic.

13:00  – Stop into Jimmy Johns for a large fountain soda – diet coke with a shot of cherry coke – with ice.  Swoon.

14:00 – Lunch.

My Seven Layer Casserole was the #2 best thing to come out of last year’s vegan month (and I’m making numero uno this weekend!).  It is packed full of veggies but tastes like a big mouthful of tortilla chips.  True Story – the reason we went to Moe’s on Tuesday was so I could take home the free chips for this recipe.

16:30 – Finish the writing assignment (due this evening, whoops) that’s been buzzing around my head all month.

18:00 – Dinner in class.

Holy frick, this sandwich, holy frick.  It’s simple, just a Sandwich Thin with mustard, SmartBalance Light, and raw tempeh, but it blew my mind.  The perfect combo of flavors.

Plus a baggie of roasted green beans.

These are actually sort of embarrassing to eat in class because they are squishy and you end up having to cram them in your mouth.  I own it though.

19:30 – We get dismissed from class 30 minutes early!

20:30 – Blog.

21:00 – (planned) read magazines in bed.  <– heaven

What was the best hour of your day?

Life In Lists

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Some Thoughts from Yesterday

  1. I finished the last published book in the Temperance Brennan series from Kathy Reichs and I’m devastated. There’s a new one coming out this summer but that’s not soon enough! I get really into what I’m reading and when a good book is over it’s like a friend has moved away.
  2. I want to also be sad that this is the final season of “House” but honestly I’m not sure how they’d top this season. The most recent episode was amazing! While I love books (Duh!), I also get really moved by good tv. I always tell Adam and if I had watched more as a kid I probably would have grown up to work in television. I am genuinely awed by people like Hugh Laurie, Emily Deschanel, Joss Whedon, and Hart Hanson. Anyway though, “House,” I’m loving the character development. Thus week House and Chase grew in ways that were both amazing and realistic to the characters.

A Few Things Done Today

  • A CT10k workout. Week 1.2 was 9 sets of 3 minutes walking, 2 minutes running. With 5 minutes of cool down for 50 minutes, 3.85 miles.
  • I met with a friend to work on a group project. Sometime next month we are doing a nutrition education session for a group of preschoolers. Not the age range I’m used to but it should be fun.
  • I bought a Groupon for 2 unlimited months at Evolation Yoga!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I’ll have to wait a bit to activate them (I can’t get as much out of them as I’d like and also put the time I need into the CT10k running plan) but I am so flipping excited.
  • Not my schoolwork.  Like the paper due tomorrow that’s going to ruin my Thursday.

What I Ate Today

1.  Lunch for breakfast.

In the bowl was a concoction just crazy enough to work.  Leftover Smokey Maple Baked Beans, roasted butternut squash, 4 oz of chopped up tempeh, and a dousing of Anchor Bar’s Medium Wing Sauce.

Delicious, but I was crying and snotting after every bite.  I was glad I had this onion bagel with SmartBalance Light to help break up the spice.

2.  Dinner, from Wegman’s.

Veggies with a piece of tofu,

plus a small serving of noodles with cabbage.

And grape leaves.

I had three.  We bought the ‘leaves because Adam tried to order some at his lunch today and they came stuffed with meat and covered in a cream sauce.  Weird!  I’ve never ever seen them offered like that before.  Pretty annoying too that the menu didn’t mention either of those additions.

3. Snack.  I stole the last two servings of Adam’s Somersaults.

Somersaults are his favorite snack item (he basically squealed when we discovered them on sale at Wegman’s) so I want to feel bad for eating them, but they were downright delicious.

Some Questions for You

  1. What is your favorite book series?
  2. Have you ever encountered grape leaves with meat and/or cream sauce?
  3. What’s your favorite packaged snack food?

Peanut Butter Practice

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It’s been a good weekend!  Good food, good fun, good friends.  Not much activity on the school-work front, but we’ve got a 4-day weekend coming up next week so it was hard to motivate myself.  Plus Friday’s 3am session of book reading hit me pretty hard.

I’m so glad I did it though, this was the first book club where we all finished reading on time and we finally got to talk about the book!  So much fun.  I wasn’t an English major/teacher for nothing, I love analyzing literature.

The food wasn’t bad either.  Janessa made vegan 7-layer bars.

And Anna brought this big bowl of fresh fruit that pretty much had my hand planted in it all evening.

My offering fit both the dessert and fruit categories; peanut butter pretzel banana pie.

It got good reviews all around and I’m excited to share the recipe with y’all tomorrow.  But that could have been the booze talking too.

Lemonade, club soda, and Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka (to fit with the book!).  I had that glass x2.

I got home after midnight and was very excited both to get in bed and stay in bed late this morning.

Breakfast was a toasted onion bagel with SmartBalance Light.

Plus a cup of lemonade and club soda.

I left the vodka out today, but had that glass x2.

Today was another round of fancy lunch and easy dinner.  Lunch was healthy, vegan, and included a new recipe to boot.

Roasted French green beans,

pearled barley,

and Smokey Maple Baked Beans.

The beans weren’t quite Southern bbq good, but for quick and vegan I’d say they’re pretty great.  Here’s a link to the recipe.

While Adam and I watched “Grey’s” this afternoon I ate this bowl of popcorn x2.

And then headed to yoga on a full belly.  90 minutes of hot yoga will make you wish you’d done more water and less salt.  This class was the very last practice of my 30-day pass and I’m pretty devastated.  I’ve come to enjoy yoga so much more than I ever thought possible.  I’m still not very good, but every shaky, sweaty minute is filled with glee.

I picked Adam up for a “cookie walk” and we came home with peanut butter cups from the Co-op.

It was good but I wish it had been a bit smaller, even this sugar fiend couldn’t finish her serving.

Dinner was peanut butter laced too.

I promise that bowl was as tasty as the picture is crappy.

Into the skillet with evoo went leftover pasta, leftover (pre-cooked) yellow squash and broccoli, and my peanut sauce.  The noodles get all crispy when you stir-fry them and the sauce forms a crust that’s pure heaven.

Now it’s back to the grind.  Hopefully this weekend of play has left me rejuvinated for work!

Do you love to read?  Do you enjoy discussing the things you’ve read, or would you rather not analyze them?