I Spoke Too Soon

by Emily

My teeth may hurt, but not eating dinner just wasn’t going to fly. I drove my friend home just after 8 and realized that not only was I hungry, I was probably going to cry if I didn’t get food immediately. So to Wegman’s hot bar I went.

At least I stuck with soft things. Cooked sweet potatoes, carrots, and butternut squash, plus green beans almondine.

One of the veggies (potatoes, I think) had a thick, sweet sauce that leaked over everything and tied the whole plate together. Yum.

Sweet potato, butternut squash, pumpkin, or carrots; what’s your favorite orange veggie?

28Nov2011

“Leftovers”

by Emily

Did everyone have a fantastmic Turkey Day weekend? (I did!) We had a great last 1/2 day in Miami, including brunch with one of my best college friends, but got back into town late enough and with enough to do that I knew I was better off not blogging.

I didn’t have it together to pack food this morning but, though I got a little cranky around 1:00, I managed to make it through the school day without food. Fueled or not, I am so proud of myself for making it to the gym during the break before my last class. 35 minutes, level 6 random, on the elliptical.

I had an after-school errand that made me have to wait longer to eat, but I was ok with it. I was off to see a boy.

Love him. And I was so proud, when I went to the vet to pick him up they told me that he was perfectly behaved and everyone was going to miss him. I took him on a quick walk when we got home and he hadn’t forgotten any of his training during our five-day absence.

He’s a genius.

He’s also shedding like a mad man. When Adam got home we went out for a lint brush to remedy the winter coat/dog fur situation and also dealt with the food issue.

It’s worth not eating all day to get Wegman’s hot bar for late lunch. I got a heathy mix of fruits,

and veggies.

Delicious. I haven’t made brussels sprouts at home in ages but they are always my favorite thing on the buffet line.

Dinner was a winner as well.

Who says you need Thanksgiving leftovers to have a day-after-Thanksgiving inspired dinner? Into our bowls went a serving of pasta, some shredded rotisserie chicken, peas, a bit of parmesan, and a big dollop of cranberry relish.

I made an extra serving too and I’m excited about having this again as leftovers.

I tried to do some drinking with dinner.

But this Angry Orchard Hard Cider was too sour (it tasted almost rotten!) for me and I only managed a few swigs.

What did you make with your Thanksgiving leftovers?

24Nov2011

Happy Thanksgiving

by Emily

We’re in Miami!

Can I just say, how little I did I manage to pack for two people for four days?

And that’s with the husband’s giant boy clothes taking up extra space.

Our day of travel went smoothly, minus my yogurt (in a perfect peanut butter jar!) getting tossed at security. We slept though the first flight and then spent three hours walking around the Chicago airport.

We got a strange 8am meal, splitting a Baja chicken burrito from Burrito Beach.

I asked for chicken, red rice, black beans, corn, cheese, sour cream, and roasted veggies.

Supplemented with a tangerine packed from home.

I was pleased with the job I did packing food for this trip.

(Adam also had a downright gourmet salad in my backpack.)

I ate a sandwich – Applegate Farms Turkey Bologna, Crofter’s Grape Spread, everything Bagel Thin – on flight number two.

Plus Peanut M&Ms bought from the airport.

I also started reading the all time funniest book ever on the plane.

Clearly Webster liked it too. I laughed aloud so many times I’m sure our seatmates were thinking of muzzling me.

Before we knew it, we were on the ground and hugging my parents at the gate. We are so freaking excited to be with them (especially in Miami!).

Our first stop was a nice walking tour of our old haunt, the U!

So fun to see how the campus had changed in little ways. I will admit to becoming a bit nostalgic when we walked past the building where I took all of my English classes. Plus it’s fun that Adam and I got to date here for four years.

Our next stop made my heart sing.

Self-serve froyo is high on my list of things to be thankful for! I did keep the serving small though (we were about to head out to a nice Turkey Day dinner!); dolche de leche and taro froyo with fruit, a smidge of marshmallow, sprinkles, and lots of popping bobba.

If we manage to sneak in a froyo every day of the visit I think this will end up being the best vacation ever.

For dinner we headed to the Chart House.

The shirt that Adam has on here is actually the one he got married in!!!

I started my meal with a Blue Moon.

And a really great roll with butter.

And for dinner I went traditional.

Sliced roast turkey,

cornbread stuffing,

mashed potatoes,

cranberry relish,

and creamed spinach.

The spinach was soooo good, but overall I probably ordered the wrong thing since I actually hate most Thanksgiving foods. I only ate a 1/3 or so of my plate; but at least I won’t have regrets about “missing”anything, and Adam is thrilled with his plate of leftovers.

My meal came with pecan pie.

But there wasn’t a preference issue that kept me from eating this, the pie was just plain nasty. Store-bought (crappy store-bought) pie, Chart House? You can do better.

But what really matters on Thanksgiving is family, and I got to spend the day with my three favorite people. And I hope all of you, Americans or otherwise, got to spend the day with your nearest and dearest too.

20Nov2011

Hello Again

by Emily

I swear, with my hand on a stack of Buffy DVDs, I really do have a blog! It’s been a few crazy days, but I did miss y’all like crazy. I’m not going to recap, but I will mention a few things – Adam and I are about ready to serve the dog on a bun ~ we’re all ready for a vacation ~ I have two tests tomorrow because I didn’t even make it to school on Friday to take my exam.

Starting again this morning…

I had a group meeting to finish up a project so I headed to school this morning. We worked for a couple of hours and we are feeling ready good about the assignment, which isn’t even due for another couple of weeks!

Since it was after 1 before I could even think about food, I headed to The Spot for a quick bite while I studied.

Pizza bagels are crazy simple, just a toasted bagel with marinara sauce and cheese on top, but also crazy good.

I ate 3/4 of this, and gave the last bit to my friend when she picked me up.

Then we moved the party to Starbucks so we could take advantage of the 2-for-1 holiday drinks special.

I got a grande, non-fat, eggnog latte. Score!

Mid-studying this afternoon I snacked on a D’anjou pear.

I also took a break to make an easy, fall-feeling dinner.

On foiled, sprayed baking sheets, top chopped tofu and butternut squash with apple cider vinegar, salt, and brown sugar.
Bake for 40 minutes at 350*, then 20 minutes at 400*.
In a large pan, cook shredded cabbage in apple cider.
Combine.

Dinner was so tasty, the squash got almost caramelized. I liked the undertones of apple spread throughout. I took a small portion and now Adam and I both have great leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch.

I know I didn’t eat all that much food today, but trust me, Adam and I more than covered it the past few days!!

Have you gotten a holiday drink from Starbucks yet? Which one’s your favorite?

1Nov2011

Veg Head

by Emily

The chili sale was good, work was good, but today was crazy and I’m tired so I’ll keep this quick.

Sometimes, when I know that the schedule of a day will make it impossible to keep an all-around healthy lifestyle (like today!) I’ll choose one healthy goal to work on. Today’s goal? Making veggies the main “meat” of all of today’s meals. And in light of today’s goal, I think this is the perfect post to share the vegetarian infographic my friends at RetailMeNot sent my way –

Source: RetailMeNot.com

Breakfast’s veg was eggplant.

My Cheesy Baked Eggplant leftovers are just as tasty as they were the night I made them, even cold and straight from a Tupperware!

Today’s schedule was class –> chili sale –> orthodontist –> work –> home. With a fun mid-day addition of cake tasting.

A classmate’s wife is starting a cake business and sent one in for us to give feedback on.

Lunch was a Chili Sale meal (we did great by the way, made more than $250 to give to the food bank!).

Veggie = beans in the vegetarian chili.

Plus a super delicious roll, provided by Romeo and Juliet’s Cafe.

And a bit of the tasty veggie sandwich they brought as well.

Dinner was pure veg. Spinach, butternut squash, mushrooms, (and tofu and craisins!).

Yesterday I went on a roasting extravaganza. I did the tofu in maple syrup and rice vinegar, the squash in curry powder, and the mushrooms in truffle oil and salt. Once everything was nice and toasty (30 minutes at 350* followed by 20 minutes at 400*) I put them all together in a Tupperware with a few handfuls of spinach and some craisins. I shook everything together and the heat from the roasted veggies wilted the spinach a bit.

It was perfect. And the mix of flavors was great.

As were these –

The bookstore was having a Combos’ sale, how could I resist?!? I didn’t eat that entire big bag but I definitely came close!

I really wanted to make it to the gym today but it just didn’t happen. I’m hurrying to the bed in the hopes that a good sleep will get me to there tomorrow.

24Oct2011

Christmas In October

by Emily

My day took a sharp left turn mid-morning, but let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

When you have a lazy day Sunday and a test on Wednesday that makes for a busy Monday. I got up with the husband and was showered and sitting with notecards by 5:30am. I took a breakfast break around 6 because if I’m going to study before dawn I’m going to eat a nice meal, dammit.

And boy was this a nice meal.

I reheated some chopped, roasted zucchini in a skillet with a bit of black truffle oil, then scrambled in some garlic dill double cream chevre and 2 large eggs.

These eggs practically blew my mind! Adam is the one who’s obsessed with truffle oil but I am absolutely loving it in scrambled eggs.

Plus two Republic of Tea Red Velvet Chocolate tea bags were steeped in some skim milk.

I actually find this tea to be pretty tasteless and sad (outside of the pink color!) but doubling up and using milk instead of water seemed to help. My mom bought me the tea as an expensive gift last time she visited and I’m not going to waste it.

I drove to school in the rain and was feeling pretty glum about the upcoming week, especially when I remembered that we had a quiz in class #2. But then our first class started and suddenly the clouds parted with all sorts of good news –

our Wednesday test was moved to Friday
our professor had to call in sick so both of my afternoon classes for today were cancelled

Bam; total mood turn around! I swear you guys, I was so giddy it felt like Christmas morning.

I couldn’t even begin to take a photograph that captures how happy I am to be at home right now. Though I will memorialize my final thin t-shirt with sandals look; it’s supposed to be snow weather on Thursday.

With my found time I’m going to try to make two nice meals for today and get caught up with my work for this week. I’ll see y’all in a bit for a lunch at home!

22Oct2011

Quick Trip To Canada

by Emily

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?

21Oct2011

Good Marital Advice

by Emily

First things first.

Q – Which has more caffeine (no looking it up!) a grande coffee from Starbucks or a Red Bull energy drink?

A – The Starbucks. 330 mg versus 80 mg. (source)

Also, I have no photos of my mid-day meal. Lunch was consumed via food lab samples and I didn’t have time to photograph. The lack of pictures stinks, but the meal was gooood. Today was the fat/fat substitute group’s lab and we made regular and reduced versions of ranch dressing, buffalo chicken dip, french toast, red velvet cupcakes, and grilled cheese sandwiches. In total I consumed about 3-4 big bites of each. The cupcakes were beyond nasty (both varieties) but the dip was ridiculous good and we all stood around taking bites long after we were done tasting! Plus I ate several pieces of sourdough while I was slicing bread for the sandwiches.

I had dinner all planned out but the husband arrived home from the hospital at 6pm and confidently declared that we were going out. A good wife never contradicts her husband.