Tag Archives: sweet

Friday Eats

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Here is how my day was on the food front.  You can probably guess how my good decision-making went, the 2am post is a giant clue.  Netflixing old episodes of “Scrubs” was genius!

Bar for breakfast.

The Peanut Crunch Zone Perfect Bar was my last flavor to try from the Perfectly Simple line.  This flavor was my favorite.  The texture reminded me of a crumbly oatmeal cookie!  And I liked the fact that the flavor was peanut butter-y without being too overwhelming; sometimes peanut flavored bars make you need a drink.

Coffee with skim milk and Irish cream syrup.

Lunch was a slice of buffalo chicken pizza.

And a mini ice cream.

And dinner was a bowl of casserole leftovers.

I added a drizzle of evoo and 1.5 oz of sharp cheddar to the mix and the dish was much improved.

With several spoonfuls from a fresh Biscoff spread for dessert.

And a side of tv reruns!

So. Much. Coffee.

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The week’s almost over!  Last night we did indeed walk the dog straight to snacks.

A diet pop and a York Peppermint Patty for me.

The three of us sat on the couch and watched “Solitary.”  I discovered the show and watched the first season on my own and now that we’re on season 2 I’m sad to say that my opinion is going downhill.  For such a big committment and such a tiny prize ($50,000 for the winner) I feel like the challenges should focus on resilience and conviction.  Now that they are becoming fitness competitions I’m losing interest.

I’m not sure why Adam found it necessary to take an hour-long shower after we stayed up late watching tv, but when the alarm went off at 6:00 this morning I wanted to punch him in the face.  I basically guzzled caffeine all day and then he brought me home pizza so we’re okay now!

Coffee count – #1: A medium iced coffee with french vanilla creamer for funsies.

#2/3: A small coffee with chocolate milk, x2.

#4: A Medium coffee with skim milk and three sugars.

I spent most of my day peeing and I’m still twitching.  Worth it.  Apparently I like my drinks sweet in the summer; I’m going to have to watch that habit.

Pre-coffee I did get in a workout. 30 minutes on the elliptical at random level 6.  Plus arm strength moves on the machines.

For breakfast I had the last bit of spicy chicken and rice.

Lunch was from the dining hall again.  Spicy tofu with sautéed peppers and onions plus broccoli cooked with cherry tomatoes.

I thought the food was good and most of the students I surveyed agreed with me.  Part of my summer school assignment was supposed to be analyzing patient surveys about hospital tray service.  I had to tweak the survey form a little bit to make it fit, but the same general ideas about food temperature and serving size applied.

When I got home in the afternoon I ate my slice of husband-delivered cheese pizza.

He only has a few more shifts at the hospital with the great cafeteria so I’ll take advantage while I can.

Our dinner casserole was assembled yesterday and all we had to do today was bake, easy peasy.

In the dish (the casserole dish!) was –

  • 4 cups cooked brown rice
  • 8 cups raw baby spinach
  • 2 cups roasted broccoli
  • 1 poblano pepper, diced
  • 1 lb tempeh, roughly chopped
  • 3 cups Imagine Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup
  • (1 cup crushed Monterey Jack Cheez-Its)

Mix.  Put in a 13×9 casserole dish.  Sprinkle with crushed Cheez-Its.  Bake 25 minutes at 400*.  Serves 6.

On my new plate.

It was closer to healthy than tasty, but it worked.

With a handful of candy-coated sunflower seeds for dessert.

Have you watched/heard of “Solitary” yet?

Wakeful Weekend

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In solidarity with the husband I kept his vampire/emergency room doctor schedule and stayed awake all Friday night.  I ate a big bowl of popcorn, discovered Solitary, read a book… it was great.  Except that the rest of the weekend ran together in a big fog so I guess it was not so great.  I didn’t do much, but here’s what I ate Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday.  I ate a bowl of Maple Brown Sugar Frosted Mini Wheats and All Bran Bran Buds with skim milk for breakfast.

Split a PB & J’s candy bar with Adam.

This was super fun.

Made a to-die-for bagel sandwich.

A toasted Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Thin topped with a wedge of Laughing Cow Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese Spread (two thumbs up), turkey pepperoni, and melted white sharp cheddar.

Discovered another new froyo place.

I got coffee and coconut yogurt topped with toasted coconut, oreo, marshmallow cream, hot fudge, and candy-coated sunflower seeds (<– freaking awesome topping idea!).

And I ate a big thing of black bean nachos for dinner but was so tired at that point that I forgot to take a picture.

Sunday.  Here is how Adam’s Sunday morning went – drive home from the hospital / say hi to me and tell me about how his night went / fall asleep in bed without covers because I had all of the sheets out with me on the couch

Here’s is how my Sunday morning went – wake up and realize it’s light out (think “don’t freak out) / check my phone and see that it’s 9:30 am (think “don’t freak out”) / notice a 6:30 am text from Adam saying he was heading home / freak out / scream, waking up the husband in the bedroom

Apparently I was talking to him in my sleep!  I used to do that a lot of mornings in college but back then it was more inconvenient than scary.  I still don’t remember talking to him but I am so flipping glad that he was home safe.

For breakfast I made the husband some “I’m Glad You’re Not Dead Honey Roasted Peanut Butter.”

1 lb of TJ’s honey roasted peanuts, 3 Tbsp canola oil, 3 Tbsp honey.  I took several taste-tests for quality purposes (about 2 Tbsp worth) and it was delicious.  I washed it down with a pear that I somehow didn’t photograph.

Lunch was an Annie Chun’s Pad Thai Noodle Bowl.

It was good but not “60% of your daily value of sodium good,” yikes!

I spent the afternoon exploring the Allentown Art Festival with a friend.  We didn’t buy anything but it was fun to wander; almost six miles were covered on foot!

Dinner was leftover soup.  Topped with tons of lime and a dollop of plain Greek yogurt.

We have one more serving left and I’m looking forward to it.

I’m not quite full though and if I finish tomorrow’s assignment in time I’m going to grab a snack.

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

**updated to add –

Homemade pb and chocolate chips were melted and consumed while I finished my work.

Froyo On A Friday

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It’s been a fabulous Friday!  Any Friday that starts a three-day weekend is bound to be good, but this one was fun all on its own as well.  I went on two dates with the husband, spent the afternoon at the mall with some friends, and ate lots of tasty food.

Lots and lots of tasty food.

We had errands to run this morning and while at Wegman’s we purchased chocolate croissants.  fatty pro tip – the best chocolate croissants in town are at Wegman’s bakery

We walked with the dog to Starbucks for espresso.  A doppio with skim milk and sugar.

Then we breakfasted on croissants and espresso in the sunlight.  It was just as wonderful as it sounds.  We finished our grocery shopping on foot, with the dog, with a sweet espresso buzz, and felt very European.

I spent my afternoon with two friends at the mall.  We also went to The Christmas Tree Store (which sells discounted products and actually no Christmas trees) which was ironic because when Janessa and I went to the mall originally we got so lost that we ended up at The Christmas Tree Store, i.e. about as far away from the mall as you could possibly get.  It was beyond pathetic.  We were 45 minutes late to meet Kim and laughing so hard that we cried.

When we finally made it to Galleria we rewarded our superior navigation skills with froyo.  I had coconut and plain tart with tons of strawberry and mango boba.

This was both of my friends’ first times trying self-serve froyo and popping boba and thankfully they were big fans.

I didn’t do much shopping at the mall but I did see many cute items; lots of lace things to covet!  And I purchased a pretty plate from Anthropologie that was 50% reduced.  Buffalo people – Anthro currently has lots of reduced-price stuff on the main floor in addition to the sale room.

At home I ate slice of cheese pizza leftover from yesterday’s lunch.

And a coffee yogurt with roasted peanuts and honey.

This combo has been one of my favorites since I was a young child.

Date number two was a walk down Elmwood.  It wasn’t an aimless amble, we had a very specific destination in mind –

Chow Chocolat for iced hot chocolates!

I got peanut butter and Adam got salted caramel and we switched halfway through.

The drinks were made-to-order with real chocolate and were rich but not too sweet.  They were heavenly.

Dinner was a toss-together.

I boiled six-cheese tortellini with a frozen green bean and carrot mix, then tossed the cooked past and veggies with marinara sauce.  Nothing special but it did the job.

I left behind the last quarter or so of my portion because I’m going to tuck into a biiiiiig bowl of popcorn as soon as this post is up.

Pop… pop… pop!

Zombies Don’t Feel So Fresh

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Hello, hello!  No post yesterday due technical difficulties.  P.S. “technical difficulties” is a fancy way of saying “I’m an idiot and when I plugged in my camera I somehow deleted all of my pictures.”

That wasn’t even the stupidest thing I did all afternoon.  We were eating M&M’s on the couch and I didn’t realize that I had spilled a handful until I saw the dog licking them.  I picked them up immediately (because chocolate and dogs don’t mix) but we have no idea what I did with them next.  We finally determined that I must have eaten them.  That’s right, I basically took food out of the dog’s mouth and ate it.  Yum.

Yesterday was a disaster any way.  We did not run.  We did eat nachos.  Like, ridiculous nachos; they were almost too cheesy.  Oh, and I fell asleep on the couch at 5pm again.  I don’t know what my deal is lately but I’m so tired I feel like a zombie!  I seem to be a little bit allergic to the dog but overall this has been my best summer ever as far as allergies go.  And while summer school is easy I don’t feel like I’m not doing enough and I’m certainly not doing too much.  I don’t know why I feel so tired all of the time.

For breakfast a Roasted Nut Roll Larabar Uber was packed.

The last of my Uber line samples, this flavor is my 2nd favorite after Bananas Foster.  The mix of nuts included almonds, pecans, peanuts and macadamia nuts.  It tasted almost like one of those pecan roll candies with the white stuff in the center!

I should mention that the husband was the one who sweetly did the breakfast packing.  Unfortunately I requested an apple to go with my bar and he provided a rock-hard nectarine instead.  No fruit for me.

Lunch was a very special feast.

One of our classmates owns the famous, local restaurant Romeo and Juliet’s Cafe and she brought us in a spread.

I had veggie pizza,

a stuffed pepper,

and salad.

And then I couldn’t help going back for a 2nd slice of pizza.

The stuff on the side is honey mustard dressing and house-made red pepper flake mayo.  I dipped my crust in the sauces and was in absolute heaven.

She brought in dessert too.

I finally ate my first cannoli!  Loved it!

I bought espresso to drink with my dessert like a real Italian.

A double shot with tons of skim milk and a few shakes of vanilla sugar.

Continuing the excitement, we watched a movie in class this afternoon (it was appropriate, it was a food movie!).  Fresh is a documentary that examines the pros and cons of organic versus factory farming and looks at our country’s food system as a whole.  A lot of cool people took part in it, including Michael Pollan and Joel Salatin.  We all really enjoyed the movie and I highly recommend that you check it out.  None of the information was really new to me but it was a great reminder that I need to do a better job of sticking with my principles when we go out to eat.  Adam and I only purchase humanely raised meat to cook at home and ideally that is the only type of meat I ever want to consume.

Even more exciting, we got the news that we are getting the day off tomorrow.  I am going to go to the mall with some friends and I couldn’t be more jazzed.  <– honestly, I clapped my hands and squealed when someone suggested it and I have no idea why because I’m not even going to be buying anything

I had big plans to make up yesterday’s run this afternoon and it just didn’t happen.  Actually, I got up and dressed in running clothes this morning (shoes, sports bra, everything) and made it as far as the couch.  I thought I would be able to redeem myself after class but I was dreading the run.  Every time I got up to go I just felt sad.  I need to do a better job of pushing through and working out more consistently (more in general!) but I love running so much that I hate to do it when I’m not going to enjoy it.

I did finally make that soup though.

Tex-Mex Chicken Soup from Cooking Light.  It was very good but not great.  I was mostly to blame for leaving out important ingredients.

my (mostly stupid) changes to the recipe

  • used 1/2 Tbsp less evoo
  • subbed green bell pepper instead of red (do you have any idea how expensive red pepper are?!)
  • subbed pickled jalapeño
  • skipped the cumin, cilantro, and queso (again, $)
  • skipped the tomato
  • used homemade shredded chicken and stock

I liked the spice level, especially with the pops of sweet corn.

I know this sounds strange, but I think I would have liked it better without the chicken!

Also this happened.

Yuck.

Finally, a product update – Smoke and Ashes from China Glaze’s Capitol Colours line (as seen in this post) has a great slate color but it chips like crazy.

Do not recommend.

Wow, that was a long post!

Have you seen “Fresh” yet?  What did you think?

Off Plan

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Adam was on call last night and sleeping by myself did not go as well as planned.  To start, the dog and I stayed up until 1 am painting my nails and watching “Drive Me Crazy.”  And it didn’t seem like I was sleeping poorly but when the alarm went off this morning I wanted to punch it in the face.  I knew by the first snooze that I needed to update my workout and breakfast plans.

Instead of a run, I did 10 minutes of strength and stretch moves.  Not gonna lie though, I don’t think I could have done more than 10 minutes even if I’d had the time!

Instead of a yogurt bowl at home I took breakfast to-go.  A Naked Green Machine that Adam brought me home from the hospital.

And an Apple Turnover Larabar Uber.

The bar was tasty though a bit stickier than I’d like.  The flavor wasn’t really apple, instead it was chock-full of raisins.

Lunch was simple but good.

Roasted broccoli,

topped with Makhani sauce.

With Junior Mints (Canada style!) for dessert.

When I got home from class I snacked on mango slices.

Yuuuuuum!  We almost never buy mango (and Adam has to cut it for me when we do!) but it is the perfect blend of tart and tangy.

Plus bread with olive oil.

And a small slice of pizza.

It was less than a dollar but it wasn’t very good and I shouldn’t have eaten it no matter how hungry I was.

I had homemade soup planned for dinner but then the husband ate a bunch of food and came home stuffed.  I moved the soup to tomorrow and instead I got a $6 fish taco for dinner.

This was more enjoyable than the soup would have been anyhow!

Did you follow your meal plan for dinner this evening?

What A Weekend!

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The title exclamation is supposed to be aggregated, not excited.  What a weekend, indeed.  Nothing major went down (I always try to remember that in the big picture we are so, so blessed) but there was lots of stress.  First the dog got sick and then my car battery died.  And worst of all, Adam spilled my entire large fountain diet soda with ice.

Now the dog seems to be feeling better and $120-later my car is feeling better too.  Phew!  Plus I found out that I passed my ServSafe exam with a 98%, i.e. only 1 question missed out of 80.

I didn’t have it together enough this morning for breakfast – instead I took a much-needed shower! – but I did pack snacks that I nibbled throughout the school day.  An Apple Strawberry GoGo Squeez packet.

A mini box of raisins.

2 servings of Cheez-It Bigs.

And a packet of Artisana Raw Pecan Butter.

I ate the pecan butter on the cheez-its but it was sort of watery so the combination was only okay.  The homemade pecan butter I used in my Gluten-free Cowboy Oaties had a lot more flavor.

The day continued to look up when we got out of school early and I came home and ate something delicious.

The recipe will be posted by tomorrow, pinky swear.

I also ate a small piece of bread with honey.

Then I went out for a wog.  (<– I stole that from A Healthy Slice of Life and it is my new favorite slang!) 9 sets of 2 minutes running / 3 minutes walking for 45 minutes and 4 miles.

Next I spent some time in the kitchen.  Here’s dinner.

I put 1 lb of chicken breasts in the crock pot this morning (8 hours on low) and this evening we shredded the cooked chicken and tossed it with a mix of Makhani sauce and Stubbs BBQ Sauce.

The liquid I put in the crock pot with the chicken was the reserved juices from our roasted whole chicken and I like to feel like it added a little somethin’-somethin’.

My meat was served on a pile of warm cole slaw.

I put cole slaw veggies, apple cider vinegar, and a bit of sugar in my wok and cooked until softened.  Then I tossed in some Miracle Whip and raisins.  The end result was a little too tangy from the vinegar but not terrible.

My final kitchen effort was chicken stock.

Homemade Chicken Stock, yields 3 quarts

  • bones from 1 roasted chicken, stripped mostly clean
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 1 cup chopped carrot (or baby carrots)
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 3 quarts cold water
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Farenheit.  Roast bones 45 minutes.
  2. Place roasted bones, rosemary, carrot, and garlic in a large stock pot and cover with cold water.
  3. Place pot over high heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for 3 hours.

A few notes – Roasting the bones really helps to bring out their flavor.  Please be sure to cool your stock safely if not using right away.  You have two hours to bring it down to 70* and an additional 4 hours to get it down to 41* before you put it in the fridge.  Transfer the stock into smaller containers and place the containers in an ice bath, stirring regularly.  ServSafe at work, baby!

Have you ever made your own stock?

Gluten-Free Cowboy Oaties for Camille

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Does anyone remember my gluten rant?  While I hate that gluten-free is “trendy,” I deeply sympathize with anyone who has to follow a GF diet for medical reasons.  People like my cousin Camille – one of the smartest, funniest, people I know, who took her new diet completely in stride.  Her sister is awesome as well so clearly my aunt and uncle are doing something right, but that’s beside the point.

Camille occasionally reads the blog and knows that I like to bake.  Awhile back she texted me a request for a GF update to Cowboy Cookies.  I don’t think I’ve actually ever eaten a Cowboy Cookie but I did some Googling and gave it my best shot.  I’m positive that the texture is different but the taste components of Cowboy Cookies are all there – chocolate, coconut, pecan, and oats.

Gluten-free Cowboy Oaties, yields 12 dozen

  • 2 cups pecans
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup gluten-free oats
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Prepare a cookie sheet with baking spray.
  2. Spread pecans in a single layer on prepared cookie sheet.  Spritz with a bit of baking spray and sprinkle with salt.
  3. Toast pecans, about 10 minutes in the oven, watching them carefully so they don’t burn.  Remove from oven and allow toasted pecans to cool completely before moving on to the next step.
  4. Place cooled, toasted pecans into food processor along with olive oil.  Process until smooth, 1 – 2 minutes.  You are looking for a consistency similar to natural peanut butter.
  5. Place pecan butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl and use a hand-mixer to mix until well-combined.
  6. Use a spatula to fold oats, chocolate chips, and coconut into batter.
  7. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats.  Roll batter into heaping teaspoons and place in evenly spaced rows on prepared cookie sheets.
  8. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees Farenheit, until firm.

If you do not have a food processor you could probably substitute 1 cup of store-bought pecan butter for the pecans but I make no guarantees that this substitution will work.  If you are following a gluten-free diet for medical reasons please make sure that the ingredients you purchase are appropriate for your diet.