10, 9, 8…

by Emily

I have 10minutes to blog before I have to get back to the husband. My articles were not correct and now he’s helping me scour the medical databases for more. Ready, set, go!

1st, the Sandwich Thin I ate for lunch today was delicious. I loved the oats sprinkled on top. 2nd, I was starving when I got home from school this afternoon so I ate this packet of cashews,

from a Valentine’s package from my parents.

I also had a handful of pretzels that escaped the camera.

Finally, dinner.

I whipped up two servings of my Easy Peasy Peanut Noodles for Adam and I. We used linguine with broccoli and yellow squash. I went ahead and steamed a bunch of veggies to have on hand the rest of the week.

The final dish turned out delicious. This was the first time Adam has tried my peanut sauce and now he is totally smitten!

Minutes to spare!

26Jan2011

My First Long Day

by Emily

So Wednesdays are a bit insane; I get to campus at 11am and I don’t finish classes until 8:40pm! By the time my final class was done I was feeling very, very tired. Sidenote – that tiredness was not helped by the fact that our music teacher does not allow food or drinks in the classroom…..in a 3hour long class……at dinner time. [end rant]

This morning I made sure to eat an extra filling breakfast to make up for yesterday’s missing dinner.

That’s a serving of plain Siggi’s topped with 2 tsp maple jam, 3 Tbsp chunky peanut butter, and a serving of Special K Red Berries.

Delicious, and the (tons of) peanut butter packed a protein punch that kept me full all morning.

Lunch was less exciting. I packed a minneloa from home,

and bought a southwest chicken flat bread from the book store cafe.

My sandwich was tasty, but my teeth have started hurting and I could only eat half of it. Boo!

I have lots of break time on Wednesdays – 1 hour + 45 minutes + 2 hours – but unfortunately I didn’t make good use of it at all today. I’ll have to chalk up the wasted time to first long day tiredness. Probably from now on I’ll go to the gym in my 2 hour break, but I didn’t want to go all sweaty to my first class session.

When I got home at 9 tonight I was beat. All I could manage for dinner was a hot chocolate and a frozen meal.

Caramel Praline Hot Cocoa,

and a Pumpkin Squash Ravioli Healthy Choice.

P.S. This is disgusting. I ate it because I was exhausted and starving, but they were steamed apples in with the squash chunks and the ravioli were sweet and disgusting.

I’m finishing an episode of The X-Files with Adam, and then bedtime can’t come quickly enough!

When was the latest class you took in college?

11Jan2011

It Was Terminated

by Emily

Sorry for the late post, the husband and I got caught up in tv. Did anyone watch “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” when it was on tv in 2007? We discovered it on Netflix Instant Watch last week and got totally hooked – I have a Summer Glau girl crush. Anyway, we watched all the way through two seasons only to discover that the last episode was a cliff hanger and the third season was canceled. WTF, I need to know how it ends?!?!

Series disappointments aside, it was a strange day in general. I got up at 9 and was busy, busy, busy. I wrote my nyc recap, unpacked, cleaned the house, helped Adam with some work, made a meal plan….. Suddenly I was at the grocery, it was after 4 pm, and I hadn’t eaten all day.

I thought I could push through the hunger and get my groceries, but when I started feeling light-headed I bought myself a cherry coke to get some sugar in my blood.

I also picked up dinner at the hot bar.

Veggies,

and protein (chicken salads).

Most of my meals were pretty lame, but dessert was a work of art.

I took banana soft serve and kicked it up a notch. Into the food processor went one frozen banana, 1ounce cocktail peanuts, 2T coconut, and 1T maple syrup.

Out came perfection. This was salty, sweet, and delicious.

Which of your tv obsessions have been canceled too soon? I have especially bad luck because I adore Joss Whedon, whose shows are both fabulous and notorious for being cancelled ahead of their time.

13Dec2010

Tastes Like Home for the Holidays

by Emily

My shower took forever because I couldn’t bear to get out of the warm water! It’s already 10* outside, I’m a little afraid of what January will bring.

Tonight’s dinner utilized take-homes from my cultural meal project.

Callaloo and dumb bread with cheese!

Callaloo is a traditional Caribbean soup made traditional with callaloo, pumpkin, coconut milk, and okra. Our version was slightly less traditional, with spinach, butternut squash, and coconut milk.

Still delicious though. This is the recipe we used.

Dumb bread is a non-yeast-levened bread with shredded coconut scattered throughout. I topped my serving with extra sharp cheddar.

This flavor definitely took my back to my childhood! This is the recipe we used.

Leftovers for dinner meant less cooking time and more baking time!

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Brownies.

I followed the recipe on the Baker’s Chocolate box, but substituted the nuts and vanilla for 2 tsp cinnamon extract and 1 cup chocolate chips.

Quite tasty! The husband said the cinnamon gave them a warm taste.

Brownies are usually my mom’s specialty but I think these definitely hold their own. I ate two small ones.

Between the traditional Caribbean flavors and (not)mom’s brownies this meal tasted like home to us; which makes it a good meal for this week because we are gearing up for a trip home! After all of our exams are done we are heading to St. Thomas for 10 glorious days. Now I’ve just got two more exams to get through; I can’t wait!

What substitutions have you made on the traditional brownie recipe? Which was your favorite?

3Dec2010

Five Little Words

by Emily

Huge Anatomy test tomorrow, hurry!

Five(ish) words per line, go!

Southwest chicken flatbread sandwich, mmmn.

Corn, black beans, melty cheddar.

Baked goods food lab today.

1/3 eaten, cookies = dough balls!

Wegman’s to study, and dinner.

Lots of veggies, a little fun.

1chip per 4slides = study bribe.

Class, study, class, study, bedtime.

30Nov2010

Going Out with a Bang

by Emily

Thanks so much for the encouragement on my last post! Although, it seemed like many of you thought I was stressed; I was actually being matter of fact. And I matter of factly failed my test this afternoon 😉 😦

Breakfast at Starbucks ended up being a success. I got a tall, non-fat latte,

and a slice of gingerbread.

Then I brushed my teeth in the public bathroom and spit Scope in the parking lot like a total creeper 😉

My breath was fresh, but the dentist did give me the bad news that I got my first ever cavity. I knew it was coming (they’ve been “keeping an eye on” that spot for a year and a half) but I’m still a little nervous about getting drilled.

After my appointment I headed to Wegman’s for a great hot bar lunch.

An assortment of veggies plus a few pieces of sweet and sour chicken,

with fruit for dessert.

I left my car parked at Wegman’s, which meant I got to walk to school for the slaughter (Orgo exam), and then walk back to do my grocery shopping. I love walking so much, I hope this “nice” weather holds out!

When it was all said and done I ended up with a ‘you shouldn’t grocery shop hungry’ candy bar.

Delish, like honeycomb enrobed in chocolate!

I also ate a bowl of random cereals (Barbara’s Shredded Oats, plus Kashi H2H and Strawberry Flakes) with Silk Almond Milk.

I’m not sure why I was so hungry, but I’m glad I ate because I had a lot to do in the kitchen.

I’m at the point where I transfer my obsessive love from fall foods to holiday foods, and I wanted to end the season with a bang. There’s no better way to go out than P-U-M-P-K-I-N, pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin! (Can you tell I watched “Bring it On” during dinner?)

Hello there.

We made Rachael Ray’s Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage.

We subbed rigotoni for penne and vegan crumbles for sausage, but other than that we pretty much followed the recipe.

Delish!

For dessert I went with more pumpkin, (and more Rachael Ray, come to think of it) Cheesecake-Filled Pumpkin Muffins.

I skipped the frosting, these babies are perfect without it!

I had two.

Now I’ve got to go to bed, go, go, to bed!

Were you a cheerleader in highschool?

3Nov2010

Squashing My To-Do List

by Emily

When Adam and I were miserable, teaching in New York, we would escape in entertainment. I genuinely believe that “Scrubs” saved our sanity (and our marriage!) during our first year. During our second year, things had gotten much easier but they were still much harder than we had ever imagined. On Sunday nights, when none of our plans for the week were complete and things felt hopeless because even after we stayed up all night writing them we’d still never get to teach the damn plans, one of us would say it – “Do you want to see what’s playing at the movies?“

Something was always playing. And if there hadn’t been I’m pretty sure we would have convinced ourselves that something from the previous week was worth rewatching. Our studio apartment was on the corner of 2nd Avenue and the movie theatre – a fabulous revamped spot with a galaxy of stars sewn into the carpet and classic movie posters lining the walls – was on the corner of 13th. Those eleven blocks, and every single store and restaurant along the way, are forever etched into my memory. No matter how we felt before the decision to see a movie, that walk always felt hopeful.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

But times have changed. Now I’m in a Dietetics program (that I quit my ~~job~~ career to join), and letting Adam talk me into seeing “Paranormal Activity 2” (I hate scary movies) at 9:10 on a Tuesday night is just a bad idea (a really bad idea). But that’s what I was doing yesterday!

Thankfully, today I really did get it together and I managed to take care of my to-do list. My eats were nothing if not unorthodox and I can’t help but credit that in my success at actually taking care of business. Should I have chocolate for breakfast every day?

Because that’s what I did today. I let Adam gobble up most of the homemade pb cups, but this one was special. A layer of chocolate and a layer of butterscotch, sandwiching a layer of crunchy peanut butter? Oh yeah!

Breakfast’s dessert was significantly healthier.

Yesterday I roasted this delightful orange acorn squash with a teeny bit of honey and salt.

And today all I had to do was reheat and mash with a bit of Smart Balance Light.

Sort of like mashed potatoes, but a thousand times better.

For lunch I crunched through Anatomy with a bag of baby carrots and sliced Empire apple.

Btw – after the curves I scored an 89 on the Orgo test and a 74 on Anatomy. I need to step up my Anatomy game for the remainder of the semester (I do, however, have a 96% as my Anatomy Lab current class average!).

Adam came to study with me between classes and Orgo lab and generously shared a few bites of pizza with me.

When I realized that I was actually considering punching him in the face and trying to make a break for it with the pizza I deemed it time for an early dinner.

Huuuuuge chicken burrito.

We took a quick walk around the ‘hood on the way home (glorious!), so 4 hours after my burrito I had dinner, part 2.

Low fat plain yogurt topped with 1/4 cup gingerbread granola, 2tsp maple syrup, a sliced plum, and a sprinkle of unsweetened shredded coconut.

I need to remember this combo in December, it felt very ‘visions of sugar plums.’

Maybe you’ve noticed my lack of gym time? My plan/goal is to smash my to-do list over the next 4 days. Whether I succeed or I fail in that endeavour, I’m returning to the gym come Monday!

Do you ever escape in entertainment? How often do you go to see a movie?

26Oct2010

Mexican x Dos

by Emily

A few things need to be said to preface this post –

Today was carbtastic!
You are not seeing double; my lunch and dinner pretty much were identical. In retrospect, I think I was just so excited about dinner that my fried brian jumped the gun at lunch.
I just finished taking a midterm and I have tests in Anatomy and Orgo on Friday.
I promise this blog will stop sucking (or will at least suck less) when said tests are finished.

Breakfast (1), Cliff Spooky ‘Smores Z-Bar.

This was my first time with this flavor and I thought it was pretty great. The flavor was marshmellow-y without being too sweet. Not very filling though, which leads to (2) – a cinnamon raisin bagel with strawberry cream cheese.

I also bought an iced tea. The vat of coconut cocoa iced tea had been tempting me for days so I finally caved.

Whoops! Where do I think I am, Brooklyn?! Of course this was pre-sweetened! Sometimes I forget that BSC is the mecca of all things unhealthy, and also making things that should be healthy into things that are unhealthy. You guys know that I love all foods sugar laden, but tea is one of the few things that I think should not be sweet. I took a sip and then dumped it in the trash.

Something that should be sweet is candy! Like candy corn.

During the 2hour anatomy review session I also snacked on this cucumber.

I went straight from class, to class, to a review session and by the time I was heading home at 1 I figured I should just buy lunch on the way so I could focus on my midterm. Enter nachos.

I stopped at a ‘fresh fast food’ Mexican place that we don’t usually frequent on the way home and I figured I should try an old favorite. I was pretty impressed – these were cheesey without being too cheesey (ahem, the jalapeno nachos from my year on the couch!), and packed with beans. I felt healthy(ish!) rather than sick after eating them.

Special K Red Berries with skim milk.

Picture a small vegan pecan pumpkin blondie here too; I couldn’t take a photo because I ate it during my timed online midterm.

Dinner came courtesy of Foodbuzz, as well as my recent crock pot obsession. Let me explain. As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program I was sent a sample of this Pace Picante Sauce.

We’ve been loving stewed chicken in the crock pot lately, so why not salsa stewed chicken?! Soooo simple – 1lb of chicken in the crock pot, a jar of salsa dumped on top, 8hours on low, shred with 2 forks. Note – the spice level (for a medium) in this sauce is perfect, and I like the level of chunkiness. Two thumbs up.