Tag Archives: sweet

Nog Makes It Nice

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I love egg nog.  Like, a lot.  If I wasn’t so obsessed with keeping holidays within their “slots” I’d probably drink it year round.  But then there’s also that whole ‘fitting into my pants’ issue.  Which is what makes this product so amazing.

Silk Soy Nog.  95% as tasty as the original, and the nutritional stats are 95% better than the original.

It is so fabulously tasty, and healthfully low-fat that it even works well as a breakfast staple.  Overnight oats anyone?

Soy nog overnight oats are so good that I’ve basically stopped eating regular o.n.o. the rest of the year!

Yesterday evening I stirred together 1/3cup oatmeal and 2/3cup Silk Soy Nog and put them in the fridge overnight.  This morning I stirred in 1 Low Fat Vanilla Stonyfield and a dash of nutmeg.  Topped with holiday sprinkles, of course!

Packed into a go-cup for the car.

I ate in transit so I could cram for my test once I got to school.  I think I did pretty well, ~B, there were a few questions on there that we had not covered at all in class so that was frustrating.

My schedule today was class – break – meetings – break – evening class.  I used my first break to study for my upcoming Anatomy practical.  Fueled by Reese’s Pieces.

ET made me do it!  I ate about half of this bag, or approximately 1.5servings.

Just in case you aren’t sure that I’m a dork, I have to show you that I was taking my notes with a peppermint scented red and green striped pen –

‘Tis the season!

My meeting concerned the application process for the program I’m applying to (due the first week of the spring semester) and gave me major anxiety.  I have a lot to do over Christmas break.

My plan for the second break was to get a veggie sub and study for Orgo.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that “a little bbq sauce, please” was code for “please dip my entire sandwich in sauce, thereby making it impossible to eat and work at the same time.”

That messy monster contained green pepper, red onion, lettuce, tomato, pickles, pepperjack, and bbq sauce.

Sidenote on the sandwich – what I really wanted was an enchilada burrito from Taco Bell.  I hate most fast food but, not gonna lie, I sort of love Taco Bell.  But I recently realized that just because Taco Bell isn’t McDonalds (eww), doesn’t mean that their chickens are any tortured.  If I only buy “humane” meat to cook at home then I shouldn’t eat “evil” meat just because I’m not at home.  Obviously there are road trips and restaurants and other people’s houses, but I should probably be done with Taco Bell 😦

My night class went quickly, and then I came home to a quick but random dinner.

Actually, we were both starving, so while we cooked the husband and I split a quicksadilla (that’s a tortilla with sharp cheddar microwaved in it).

When I was at my grandparent’s house for Turkey Day, they served the tastiest brussels sprout dish.  I wrote down the recipe – by Cat Cora for a magazine – to make again when we got home.

3 lbs brussels sprouts
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 Tbsp lemon juice
4 Tbsp capers

Prepare brussels sprouts by peeling off the outside leaves and cutting off the steam.  Using a paring knife, mark the core where the stem was with an X.  Cut the sprouts in half.
In a 4-qt saucepan, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil.  Season with 1 Tbsp salt.  Blanch sprouts for 10minutes or until fork-tender.
In a 10-inch saute pan, brown the butter and add sprouts.  Cook over medium-high heat until caramelized, 10minutes.
Remove from the heat and add the capers and lemon juice.  Season with remaining salt.
Serves 8.  Per serving: 130calories, 5g protein…

I have to warn you about my entrée – it tasted better than it looked.

There was a serving each left of kugel and hoppin’ john…

…so I put them together!

The sweet and spicy mix was actually very tasty.

I’m almost definitely going to have a repeat of last night’s dessert (vanilla ice-cream with strawberries and homemade caramel sauce) but I have a few assignments to tackle so I’m going to say “goodbye” to blogland now and switch into work-mode.  See you in the am!

***Via random integer generator, the winner of my OhNuts! giveaway is #8 –

Yvonne, please e-mail me (emilyhwaxATgmail.com) so I can get you your prize!

Nightmare Before Christmas

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There was no blog post yesterday because I was so exhausted that I bumbled around all day without really doing anything!  We set our alarms for 8am and at 10:00 the husband was shaking me awake and I had no recollection of turning off the alarms.  Finally the husband remembered – after I told him I couldnt’ study because I was too tired to lift my arms – that I had such a bad nightmare on Saturday night that my moaning and flailing woke him up.  I don’t remember that either, but he told me I looked pretty pitiful.

When I got up today, the idyllic scene outside my window was like something out of one of my nightmares –

Yes, it’s gorgeous.  But – that’s the kind of snow you make cocoa and cuddle by the fireplace in, not the kind of snow you walk 30minutes through to Organic Chemistry!

But after Sunday’s #fail I was determined to make the best of today; even though I woke up at 9:30!  I started my day with some good stretching.  Not gonna lie, then I started my day with this (after brushing my teeth of course!) –

Sorry I’m not sorry (thanks, Rachel), Cherry Coke Zero is my version of the dog with a barrel around its neck.

Then I dressed for battle.

I take the dull out of bundling! (Say that out loud for me, pretty please?)

Oh yes, those are children’s snow boots.

Even my boots couldn’t fully save my trek though, it sort of sucked 😦  When I lived in Brooklyn and everyone walked it was kind of fun, but here, where I’m the only one in the snow, it’s a bit embarrassing.  At least I never really felt cold, probably because I got so sweaty; galumphing is a good workout!

I got to school early to pick up a portfolio (100%, booyah!) and then used the space before class to try to make up yesterday’s lost study time.  While I worked I snacked on a serving of Kugel.

I also drank a medium skim gingerbread latte (half pumps) and got distracted talking with a friend.

During Anatomy (87% with the curve on Friday’s test, booyah!) I slurped down a Revolution Foods Fruit Mash-Up.

As soon as classes were over, and I confirmed with the husband that he could pick me up from school, I got my study on.  I’m disappointed in myself that I screwed around so much it took me until after 7 to finish my notecards.  I’m proud of myself that when I was done at 7 I headed to the gym anyways!

I took my notecards on the elliptical – 35minutes, random, level 6.

We got home close to 9:00 and I’m pretty proud of the dinner I pulled together – fruits, veggies, and dessert!  First was a green purple monster.

This bad boy was a blend of frozen spinach, frozen blueberries, orange juice, Silk Almond Milk, and honey.

I gave the husband the extra and he loved it as well (although his did have a little extra sugar blended into it!).

Next up was a taste of the South.

I randomly picked up this can of Hoppin’ John when it was on sale a few weeks ago.  I’ve never eaten (heard of) Hoppin John before so I pretty much stuck with the directions on the can –

I did a 1/2 batch (one can) topped with Applegate Farms turkey bacon, Sriracha, and a little brown sugar.

I portioned half of it into a bowl, and tried something new.

Pretty good, who knew I liked black-eyed peas?!

Dessert was “new” as well, but there was never any question about liking it.

Oh. My. God.

This, my friends, is a (half)-batch of Jenna’s Caramel Sauce.

Well, that’s what’s left of the batch after Adam and I got to it.  It has a deep, decadent flavor and is sweet and rich.  Make it, make it, make it, make it!

Eaten drizzled (liberally) over a small bowl of vanilla ice-cream with lots of sliced strawberries.

Really it was just an excuse to eat some strawberries 😉

Yum!  Quite a pleasing dinner indeed.

Now I’ve got to hurry to shower so I can get to bed like a girl with an important test tomorrow.

Have you ever tried (heard of) Hoppin’ John?

Waiting for Harvest, Waiting for Vengence

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It’s been quite the productive Saturday; I decorated the apartment, ran a bunch of errands, made (TWO) great dinner(s), and even got some studying done for Tuesday’s Nutrition test.

Our errands – just post office, Target, Wegmans – took hours; the holiday crowds are out!  We ended up picking up lunch from the hot bar when I declared myself too hungry to shop.

Everything on that plate was delicious!

Once we were home long enough to warm up, we bundled back up and headed to Starbucks so I could get a salted caramel hot chocolate to sip while I studied.

Delicious!  But even though I gave myself a sugar headache, I still had a weird, growly hunger.  I ended up having a few random snacks while I waited for/cooked dinner.  Like a latke straight from the fridge,

and half a tortilla with melted sharp cheddar.

Dinner was quick to prepare, but the 45minute cook time is when I required my snacks.  It was worth it.

Another family recipe attempt, this time Noodle Kugel (recipe at the end of the post).

I only made a half recipe; when Adam saw cottage cheese and raisins go into the casserole dish he told me lighting the menorah would be the extent of his Jewish traditions for the day.  Hence, dinner # 2.

Did you know we have an Aero Garden in our fire-place?

I should say had.

We harvested!

And I used the basils to make Adam some tasty homemade pesto for dinner.

My dinner was better though.

Kugel is sweet in a way that still feels like dinner and the crispy noodles on the top are the best.

My side dish was pretty rocking too.  I shredded two leftover latkes, mixed them with 2/3 cup of peas, and topped with the end of the cranberry sauce and a dollop of light sour cream.

The combination was to die for and the fact that I ended up with Christmas colors was a happy accident.

Quite the fantastic dinner if I do say so myself!

Noodle Kugel

  • 12-16 oz. wide egg noodles – cook, drain, run cold water over

 Mix the following ingredients, and then mix in the noodles:

  • 8 oz. sour cream
  • 8 oz. cottage cheese
  • 1 ¼ C yellow raisins
  • 1 stick melted butter
  • 3 eggs
  • ¾ C sugar
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1 t cinnamon

 9 x 12 greased casserole; sprinkle cinnamon/sugar on top (diagonal rows); cook 45 min. at 350*

We Liked Them a Latke

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This has been the perfect sort of evening; exactly what I need before another week of tests!  My night was spent in the kitchen, with my husband, cooking and eating good foods.  We moved from cooking to couching (cuddling) and the whole affair was pretty blissful.

I was famished when I got out of the shower; nuts for lunch pack a caloric punch, but they don’t hold me over as long as I would expect.  Since we knew dinner would take a while to prepare we decided to go with dessert first.  My aunt and uncle sent us this box of fancy chocolates for Hanukkah.

Milk and dark chocolate dipped orange peel, almonds, hazelnuts, and biscuit pieces.

I ate a handful and was in heaven; you can tell this stuff is good!

I also ate a candy cane white chocolate coated pretzel from my Sweet Treats Basket.

Yum!  White chocolate dipped candy cane anything is pretty awesome but the pretzel was especially fresh and tasty.

Dinner was a labor of love, but it was so worth it.

Latkes, homemade applesauce, and roasted veggies.  We spent a long time in the kitchen, but had a lot of fun and the end products were amazing.  Recipes at the end of the post.

The roasted veggies were leftover from Thanksgiving.

We wanted to try our hand at latkes for Hanukkah this year so we turned to my uncle’s famed recipe.  My uncle Brian makes the best latkes on earth, seriously, and following his recipe I think ours turned out pretty great.

We kept things top-notch and made our own apple sauce as well (latkes are traditionally eaten with sour cream and/or applesauce).

The applesauce recipe came from my food lab, my group was assigned it one week and it turned out so well I knew I wanted to make it again.  We didn’t have a cinnamon stick to cook in so instead I topped my bowl with red hots.

That was better anyways!

Such a pleasing meal. 

I portioned out a small bowl of candy for dessert dessert, and told myself that the kitchen is “closed.” 

Hope everyone else had a great Friday!

Best Potato Latkes

  •  5 med. to lg. Idaho potatoes
  • 2 eggs (slightly beaten)
  • 2 tbsp. matzoh meal (or breadcrumbs)
  • 1 lg. or 2 med. onions
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • vegetable oil and butter for frying
  1. Peel potatoes and place in a bowl of cold water.
  2. Finely grate half the potatoes and then more coarsely grate the other half, put in colander and completely drain off liquid.  You want to really press all of the liquid out, persistence pays off.
  3. Finely grate onion and mix with potatoes. Add eggs, salt, pepper and matzoh meal and mix well.
  4. Heat  oil in a large skillet. (Add some butter for flavor.) Drop by heaping tablespoonful into hot oil (draining off any excess liquid). Flatten with spatula and fry on both sides until crisp and golden brown.
  5. Remove to paper towel to drain and keep warm until all latkes are done.

Serve with sour cream and applesauce.  These freeze very well; can be made ahead and frozen and then heated up in hot oven.

Applesauce

  • 2lbs cooking apples
  • 1cup water
  • 6″ cinnamon stick
  • 1/2cup sugar
  1. Core and peel apples.  Cut into quarters.
  2. Place apples in a large pot; pour water over.  Add cinnamon and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer 8-10minutes or until tender.
  3. Uncover and remove cinnamon.  (I drained the water out here but I like my ‘sauce pretty chunky).
  4. Remove from heat.  Mash apples with a potato masher until smooth.
  5. Stir in sugar.  Refrigerate.

Pumpkin Stuffed French Toast

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We woke up to snow this morning, on December 1st natch!

Adam was giddy as a schoolboy, but the one of us that walks 30-minutes to school was less thrilled.

I consoled myself with a mug of mint cocoa.

This was amazingly thick (you cook it with water) and rich without being too sweet.  I’m looking for another packet asap!

I also consoled myself with this –

I’ve tried explaining to my parents that 25year-olds typically don’t get advent presents, but I’m sort of glad they don’t listen! 😉  The box was loaded with seasonal goodies and even smelled like peppermint.

When it was STILL snowing two hours later I knew I needed to bring out the big guns for breakfast.

When I got a Nature’s Pride Shipment from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s Program last month I shoved one of the loaves in my freezer and promptly forgot about it.

Nature’s Pride bread makes the best french toast, and Oven Classics Oatmeal is just what I needed on this blustery day.

Toast 2 slices of bread, and prepare a filling of canned pumpkin, light sour cream, cinnamon, and brown sugar.

Sandwich and dip with egg, milk, and vanilla.

Pan fry over medium heat in a dab of Smart Balance.  Topped with a bit of maple syrup and cinnamon.

Mmmmn.  This was chewy, and toasty, and eggy, and sweet.

And now it still hasn’t stopped snowing  and I’ve eaten this package of dark chocolate almond toffee.

It looks like I don’t need lunch, but I do need snow boots.  Do check back around noon for a giveaway though!

Going Out with a Bang

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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?

Highjinks Highlights

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Turkey Day #2 was a success!  This is our last night of family time so I’m going to keep this picture-heavy and words-light.  For accountability’s sake – do be aware that I ate a TON more food than I managed to photograph, I’m just showing the highlights.

When I woke up this morning I looked over to the cutest sight on earth – the husband was holding baby niece on one side and had 5-year-old niece cuddled up on his other side!  #myovarieshurt

Before the gluttony began, Adam and I started the morning with a run.  We did a quick 1.5miles.  I was very glad to get some movement into my day.

Now the food (again, just the highlights).  0% Honey Chobani.

Our contribution #1 was deviled eggs.

I enjoyed one with some *delicious* cocktail shrimp.

Contribution #2 was this Poinsettia Popcorn Tin.

1-800-Flowers.com sent me this to review and I decided to share the wealth with the in-laws.  Butter, cheese, and caramel.

Oh.my.god.  You can assume I had many many handfuls.  Everyone agreed this was delicious, great for the holidays.

My dinner plate – white meat turkey topped with cranberry sauce, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and veggies with dip.

My dessert plate – chocolate cake and crock pot cake (a beyond amazing recipe which I will be making on my own and sharing soon).

And lots of kisses.

Applegate Farms Thanksgiveaway Winners

Via random integer generator –

Kristisn (#2), Jess (#4), and MaryBe (#5)

E-mail me at emilyhwaxATgmail.com with your addresses guys!

Another Day, Another State

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Now we’re in Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving # 2 with the husband’s family.  We’re only here two days so I’m keeping my computer time quick to maximize family time.

My grandma made us a final feast for breakfast before we left this morning.

Scrambled eggs with turkey sausage,

and french toast casserole (cinnamon raisin bread, brown sugar, butter, rum, etc).

We hit the road pretty early, because we had a very important detour –

Trader Joe’s!  We didn’t actually do much stocking up (we mostly went to get some things for my parents) but it was fun just to be there.  On the way out Adam spotted a Joseph A. Banks and managed to cash in on a great Black Friday sale – $499 coat for $99!  He needs a new coat desperately and I had no idea how we were going to afford one so I’m stocked that we found such a good deal!

We had a 7hour drive so most of our meals were eaten in the car.  Freeze dried apples for a snack.

And Taco Bell chicken enchilada burrito for lunch.

We got to have dinner in the house though.

Sliced apple from my snack bag,

and a turkey sloppy joe.

Adam fed me a Lindt truffle for dessert but it missed my camera.  Something bit my face(!!) and I’m having a bit of an allergic reaction – I’m allergic to their cats as well – so please think unswollen thoughts for me!

*Check back tomorrow for Applegate Farms giveaway winners.