Tag Archives: squash

Pizza Powered

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As planned, we ordered a pie from Just Pizza last night and it was fabulous.

We got a Laura’s Old Fashioned – “The way our Mother used to make it. Made with Extra Thick Dough, a special Sweet Pizza Sauce (fresh sliced Onions in the sauce), Mozzarella & Romano Cheese, topped with Mushrooms.”

Not so fabulous was the way I felt after eating 5 slices this size.

Fat, ill, and irritated with myself for noting getting up an eating a salad.  On the plus side though, it’s sort of like Adam and I were carbo-loading for our run this morning!  If nothing else, our glycogen stores were nice and prepared.

Actually we were prepped all around, this is the run I got to test out my new shoes on.

I’m 90% sure I like them, but I’m going to run in them once more to be sure since my most recent pair sucked so badly.

I also tested out my new favorite shirt;

handmade by ME at last week’s tie dye party.

I think it’s pretty darn cute.

It was a good run to feel cute on, because I was mostly feeling like a jackass that I haven’t worked out all summer.  My planned 3.5 miles were tough.  We had two 1.75 mile loops around Delaware Park and I’m just glad I finished.  I had to take a few walking breaks, but I made sure to run for a least five minutes each time and walk for no more than 2 minutes at a time.  3.5 miles in 40 minutes and 20 seconds.  Followed by a 10 minute walk.

The rest of the agenda was shower ~ ice ~ grocery ~ clean the dirty apartment ~ dinner.  Thankfully our grocery trip was made much more exciting by our plan to sit in the cafe for a few hours so Adam could study.  I got cozy reading Nancy.

Sidenote – I am completely and utterly obsessed with the Nancy Drew books.

And got exciting lunch from the hot bar.

In an effort to save a bit of money, we also supplemented with salads from home.

In the end my meal ended up being arugula topped with carrots, 2 Tbsp of wheat germ, 1/4 cup of roasted chick peas, and 2 Tbsp of tarragon vinaigrette.

Plus roasted veggies, chili garlic eggplant, and veggies picked out of the cashew chicken,

and a few pieces of pineapple and berries.

Delish.  I read my first Nancy and munched and was in absolute bliss.

Unfortunately, the grocery took longer than anticipated and once I added in a last-minute walk to the co-op and the task of packing Adam’s lunches, I plain ran out of time to clean the house.  Tomorrow.  And at least I’m a good wife.

Adam has one rice bowl for each day of the work week.  And I took a good many nibbles that escaped the camera while I cooked.

I also made dinner.

Polenta that turned into a fairly intimidating, but tasty solid,

and huevos rancheros inspired tacos.

I scrambled 5 eggs (with skim milk, salt, and pepper) into sautéed chopped onions and green pepper, and then stuffed them into blue corn taco shells with a bit of sharp cheddar.  I served Adam and myself 3/5 and 2/5 accordingly.

Dessert was 2/3 to 1/3 in my favor though.

A gigantic cowboy cookie I picked up at the co-op.

My entire right side of my body has ached ever since yesterday’s tennis game, so I’m going to go curl up with a book.

Teddy Bear Tie Dye

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My last day as a 25-year-old has been a good one; though after yoga our morning got off to an ironic and frustrating start.  I heard a rumor about a Teddy Bear Picnic so I strapped my bears into the car and headed out.

Sidenote – I hate stuffed animals (always have) but I spotted this guy on sale my sophmore year in college and just had to buy him for Adam.  The husband (who also hates stuffed animals) named him Rutherford and fell in love.  Our obsession with bears has bloomed from there.

We did not develop an obsession with Old Falls Street today though, since after 20 fruitless minutes of searching we never located our picnic.  Instead we drove back to the city to cash in a Living Social deal at Tea Leaf Cafe.

I’m so glad we were forced here instead; adorable set-up, cheap prices, and delicious food.  We’ll be back soon.

Our deal was for two drinks and two small plates.  Adam went with an avocado milk tea.

He doesn’t know the joy that is boba.

I, on the other hand, am obsessed with all things tapioca and requested extra bubbles in my taro milk tea.

It can’t quite compare to China Town in Boston where they mash real strawberries into your tea, but this was the best boba I’ve had in recent years!  The tea wasn’t too sweet and the boba were the perfect texture.

Adam and I split the two side plates equally.

Chicken and fresh mushroom pan-seared dumplings.

Vegetarian shiitake spring rolls.

Again, the best version of these foods I’ve had since moving to Buffalo.  Locals – get thee to Tea Leaf Cafe!

Rutherford was stuffed,

but Adam and I decided to round out our meal with some fruits and veggies.

Roasted mushroom, squash, and the world’s bitterist eggplant that I ate only because it was healthy,

blueberries, pineapple, strawberries, and watermelon so juicy I’d eat it even if I was stuffed.

I dropped my boys at home and then headed out to partay.  My friend Mary-Kate actually had her birthday this week too and she hosted a tie dye fest.  It was tons of fun but I wasn’t sure how the guests I didn’t know would feel about their photos on the internet so I don’t have any pictures.  I will show you my shirt when it finishes drying tomorrow.  And I will also show you the amazing rainbow cake that Emily made –

Eeek!  I was seriously impressed.  I don’t actually like the taste of cake that much though (no matter how cute it is) so I ate half of this piece plus a glass of Blueberry Lemonade Stoli and called it a day.

Adam and I took a walk down Elmwood and ran a few errands, and before I knew it dinner time had arrived.  I can’t think of a more fitting way to end my 25th year than this –

See you from 26!

Dinner for Clean Schmucks

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Unsurprisingly, things took longer than I expected, as they always do.  I may not have read my Nancy Drews or cooked a big dinner, but we did manage to make the house sparkle.

This afternoon I went to hot yoga, which was wonderful.  I’m not sure if it was the new timing or the fact that I skipped a bunch of workouts this week, but I did have to rest through a few poses.  And I skipped camel entirely!

Mid-cleaning, I made myself tuna salad with half a can of solid white albacore, pickle relish, and Miracle Whip.

Are you a mayo family or a Miracle Whip family??

I decided not to cook dinner and the only ingredient that couldn’t be pantried was zucchini.  Yeah I just turned pantry into a verb.  Having to eat was perfect because it meant I just needed to fill in dinner with a grain and get some fruit into my day.

Fruit came in the form of 1 serving (sipped straight from the bottle) of Bolthouse Farms Amazing Mango.

And then I ate half a slice of Buffalo chicken pizza,

with the aforementioned zucchini, which was roasted.

Dinner. 

Quick, easy, and at some point today I hit all the food groups.

My parents don’t get in until close to midnight so Adam and I are entertaining ourselves watching “Dinner for Schmucks.”  He’s never seen it before but I watched it with Camile on the first night of BlogHer!

Yes, I Want Quesadillas

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Tonight’s dinner inspiration came from Katie at Yes, I Want Cake.  Layered quesadillas.

YIWC also inspires me to poke holes in all our condoms but Adam says we should have jobs before we have our own adorable baby.  I guess I’ll stick with copying dinner.  Katie’s quesadillas were triple deckers but I went with two layers with extra cheese.

Here’s the breakdown of our ‘dillas –

Plus homemade guacamole.

We made the guac with mashed avocado, mayan onion, tomato, and salt and pepper; it was delicious.  In fact the whole meal was great.

Thanks for the idea, Katie!

Earlier this afternoon, the husband made me a Coke float.

So good.  The adorable glass is from the bar I worked at back home, complete with a drink recipe.

And now I’m actually heading out for another drink, this time coffee.  My friend Katie (the one from last night, not the dinner inspiration with the adorable baby) is moving soon so I’m trying to see her as much as possible.  We are meeting at the Spot before she leaves for a trip tomorrow.

Buffalo Mini Meet-Up

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Buffalo has finally arrived to hot hot summer weather (ie we hit the high 80’s today) and it was the perfect afternoon for a sundae.

I ate exactly one serving of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and was pleasantly surprised by how large the serving was (when I’m not eating it by the container, ice cream is one of the things I use my food scale for).  My bowl was super bulked up by the additions of chocolate syrup, a tiny crumble of coffee cake, and a nice juicy plucot.

I’m loving the summer produce today, this was the first plucot I didn’t taste and toss this year!

This evening was spent at my first blogger meet up!

L to R – Katy (a reader), me, and Katie (a reader and IRL friend).  A few people had to bail at the last minute so it was a pretty teeny “meet up” but the small group meant we could have a real conversation, yay!  Of course I was lame and akward and I’m sure I could have used the buffer of a crowd, but I had a great time.

We went to Saigon Cafe since they can work with meat-eaters and veggies alike. Katy ordered the summer roll appetizer and shared a piece with me.

And I ordered the Pad See Eiw special – extra veggies, level 5 spicy – for my dinner.

Extra veggies meant tons of squash which was delicous, and this actually had a bit of spice to it (though no where near as much as I’d like).

Good food, good conversation, good meet-up!

Katy and Katie both had long walks home so I went with them.  We stopped at the Co-op like good healthy living blog readers should.  I went home with Katie to try on her Lululemon Ta-Ta Tamer.  I loved it (yay!), but determined that my boobs are ginormous (yay?).

Taste of Buffalo

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It’s been a fabulous Saturday!  It’s always great spending time with the husband (he’ll have most weekends off during this section of his clerkship) but it was nice to have fun activities to do as well.

After yoga I had to shower, go to the campus library to do some printing, go to the post office, and go to the bank before I could get my hands on some food.  Thank goodness our first fun activity was the Taste of Buffalo, a food festival with offerings from all the local restaurants.

We bought 30 tickets (ie spent $15) and we’re very impressed with what we were able to get on such a cheap date. 

Buffalo natives – if you haven’t been yet please keep in mind that Adam used more than half of our tickets so my food eaten isn’t totally representative of $7.50 spent.

P.S. I need to be honest about what a fatty dork I am; I printed off the menu from the website and arrived at the festival with a circled, highlighted list –

Adam and I shared and I ended up with many fun bites.  One bite of fried cheese ravioli from Cecelia’s.

One tiny bourbon glazed shrimp from The Grill at the Dome, which was the biggest waste of money of the day.

A small glass of berry chai smoothie that Lipton was handing out for free.  This free sample was actually the 2nd best thing I had all day!

Adam and I split this smoked bourbon chicken sandwich from Chester’s Cajun grill and it was the #1 favorite for both of us.

Half of a gourmet watermelon popsicle from Sweet Melody.  This was delicious and I wish I could have downed the whole thing but it was just too drippy.

Among other things the husband also tried catfish nuggets and a huge cup of Cuban roasted pork.  We definitely discovered a few restaurants that we want to go check out.

We parked near our old apartment and walked to the fair which meant we got in a little more than 2 miles in total wandering.  It was just hot enough that stopping at The Spot for a diet pop on the walk back was pretty damn exciting.

As we talked about our favorite bites we realized that I hadn’t actually gotten all that much to eat (Adam was stuffed!), so I grabbed hot bar when we were picking up groceries.

Peak of season delicious watermelon and pineapple,

plus a random assortment of veggies.

During our downtime this afternoon I also snacked on a serving of coffee ice cream with blueberries and chocolate syrup.

You wouldn’t expect that combo to work but it totally did.

Dinner was also an expected win.

Breaded buffalo chicken – Marinate.  Roll in panko.  Bake at 350* for 38 minutes.  Eat dipped in blue cheese dressing.

Plus asparagus that we threw into the oven during the chicken’s last 20 minutes.

The chicken was taken totally over the top thanks to a sample of KC Masterpiece Buffalo Marinade from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s Program.

I always forget how much marinating does for the texture of chicken, it was like butter!  The marinade itself was tasty too, a nice vinegary buffalo without an excess of spice.

For our evening entertainment we cashed in a Groupon for a Broadway light show at the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium (conveniently located on my campus).

I really don’t want to share my opinion because Adam and I actually hate most musicals, which obviously colors our review.  I will say that the show was not the most exciting hour I’ve ever spent, and Adam claims to be having Vietnam War-esque flashbacks.  The high point of the activity was that the husband and I got to say planet-AIR-ium to each other a million times.  <– don’t get it?  watch this.

Psych!

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I know I said I was going home.  As I got into my car this morning I thought “I could be fun to stay longer…,” so I did!  I’ll go home tomorrow.

I think my delicious breakfast helped to put me in the vacation mood.

0% Plain Greek Gods Yogurt with berries, plucot, and the last of the Great Harvest Granola.

So sad!

My last bowl with it was fantastic though.

I was super glad I stayed when we ventured to a great outdoor mall (I snagged the perfect shoes for my hospital rotation) and spotted this –

First we had lunch.  This is a half portion (I split with my mom) of poached eggs with hollandaise, potato, spinach, asparagus, and artichoke.

Pretty good, but dessert was better.

I seriously don’t know what I’m going to do in Buffalo for the next year without froyo?!

After some more family time, we headed to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays.  I snagged one of these cheddar biscuits.

And went seafood delight for dinner.

I was seriously shocked by how good this food was; I must have exclaimed how much I enjoyed my meal at least five times during dinner!

Grilled green beans,

grilled zucchini,

and grilled bbq salmon with shrimp.

Yum, yum, yum; the zucchini was my favorite.

Ok, now I promise to go home tomorrow!

Don’t Let Your Eyes Fool You

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I’m not blind, what a relief!  Actually, it turns out I’m slightly nearsighted in my left eye but have better than 20:20 in my right eye, which averages out to perfect vision.  ie, I’m almost 26 years old (July 24th) and I still don’t need glasses! 8)

I had my eyes dillated so I had to walk around the mall a bit before I could drive.  I bought myself a frozen lemonade.

Pretty good, but not the one I’ve been pining for; I drank half.

I also wandered into heaven the new Anthropologie store.

It was painfull for me to wander around without trying anything on!  I always tell the husband that what I’m shooting for in life is to be just rich enough to shop at Anthropologie and J. Crew exclusively.  I did snag a bowl on sale for $3.

After the mall I had to head back to Wegmans; Adam needs me to make cookies for some of the boys who helped out with the ceremony yesterday.  I got lunch while I was there.

Sauted rappi and grilled veggies.

Plus oreo coffee panna cotta (<–oh. my. god.) for dessert.

Don’t let your eyes fool you, the serving was 50% smaller than it looks and the taste was 200% more delicious than it looks!  But yes, lemonade and panna cotta within the same afternoon did make my tummy hurt.

I’m glad my eyes are in shape because I’m watching “Across The Universe” as I blog and it’s pretty visually stunning.

Do you wear glasses or contacts?