Tag Archives: sweet

Road Tripped

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We are in Ohio!  My grandmother’s internet isn’t the best and it’s been a long day so I won’t be able to be as detailed as I would like.  It’s been a good day though 🙂

We got up at 6:30 this morning and were out the door before 7am.  The trip was 400+ miles so we had to get an early start.  I packed up food for the road, a la Thanksgiving Challenge, threw on a sweatshirt and split.

I had some am amazing grass – 1banana, 1scoop grass, big pour skim milk, 8 ice cubes, blender.

I was so proud of the husband for drinking some too!

A few hours later I ate a yummy leftovers sandwich.

1.5 buffalo blue bean patties on toasted bread with honey and jack daniels mustard.

We split the driving fairly evenly – 2hours Adam, 2hours me, 2hours Adam.  The switches were a nice excuse for pee and diet soda breaks!

When we got in to Piqua my grandparents had a great lunch ready for us.

Carrot and dill soup was delicious.

And the two-cheese grilled cheese were so nice and gooey.

There were also spicy bread and butter pickles and sunchips on the table.

I ate more chips throughout the day than was a good idea!

To drink I had half of Adam’s holiday Coke,

and I split a lime beer with my grandmother.

For dessert I had a cherry cordial from the box of candy we brought as our hostess gift.

We had a great time hanging out with my grandparents.  We played Euchre and my grandpa bought us all fun lotto cards!

I didn’t win, but it was nice to dream.

My aunt and uncle drove up this evening and we all had a great dinner together (more soup and sandwiches!).

The soup was white chicken chili,

and the sandwiches were pulled chicken – I think we are done with chicken for a bit!

I also had one delicious deviled egg.

Dessert was homemade old fashioned cream pie.

It was awesome, but the crust was store-bought so I just scraped out the filling.

Plus coffee with 2% milk.

Look at their adorable sugar bowl!

Now it’s almost 10 and I would love to get in bed!  Overall it’s been a fabulous (filling) day!  My grandmother is such a good cook and it’s so great to be with family.

What do you usually pack for road trips?

An Early Thanksgiving

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I’m too stuffed to be sad!  I have so much to talk about in this post and I’m so excited (and so drunk) that I know things will be left out.

This afternoon I picked up the husband and we headed to my imaging appointment.  We were in the waiting room forever so I ended up snacking on an Apricot Pumpkin Prana Bar.

Good.  And the good – but not surprising – news is that I don’t have a blood clot.  Unfortunately, this meant I didn’t really get more information.  I don’t know how I feel about the doctor who saw me yesterday so I actually made another appointment, this time with a sports medicine doctor, for Monday.  Sadly, I decided to push back training one more time, so that I will have still been on a break when I meet with this new doctor.  😦

When we got home I started packing and one of Adam’s friend’s came over to hang out.  He gave the buffalo blue bean patties a rave review!

Once he left it was time to get gussied for date night.

When I introduced the Thanksgiving Challenge I warned you guys that we had a dinner out pre-planned, a reward for a check from my old job.  Tonight was the night.

We went to Juniper, a place on Elmwood that serves 100% local food.  Nothing comes from more than 50miles away.  Their menu changes seasonally, and the entire concept has had me in a tizzy for months.  Our date did not disappoint!  For starters, I was in love with the ambiance.

I even loved the look (and labeling!) of the menu!  [i. porridge / ii. relish / iii. bird’s work / iv. aristology / v. fixations]

I actually don’t like Turkey Day food all that much (gasp) and this ended up being my mini-Thanksgiving.  We ate so much food!  I am beyond sad that my camera isn’t better, because my shots aren’t that great.  It feels imperative that y’all understand how fabulous this was!

I started the evening with a glass of Dr. L, reisling.

Yums, I thought I wasn’t a wine drinker but I really really enjoy reislings.  Wine hits me pretty hard though, halfway through dinner I was definitely nearing wasted.  Adam got a beer made with Kona Coffee that was pretty kick ass as well.

And soon homemade foccacia and evoo were delivered to the table.

I ate the piece shown x2, dipped in oil.

The husband went soup and salad for his appetizer route.  romaine ‘taco white anchovy, oven dried tomato salsa, peccorino.

I only took a small bite but it wasn’t really my thing.

mushroom pearls miso, ginger, barley.

This soup was fabulous.  I only took a few bites because I knew he loved it but it was so nice and meaty!

For my appetizer I went slightly less traditional, bobo’s not wings eggplant tempura, vitamin f, grilled celery.

Ohmyfrickinggod!  This rocked my socks.  I would eat chicken wings every meal if the chicken wing part of the equation didn’t slightly skeeve me out, so this was perfection.  This appetizer made the top three list of best things I’ve ever eaten.  It was spicy and crunchy and perfect.  I demolished it.

For entrees Adam got the chicken little poussin, chevre, rosemary smokies, fig jam.

Delish.  The meat was super succulent and the fig jam was as good as you would imagine.  Adam said his favorite component of the evening was the dark meat of his chicken.  He ate every single scrap of meat he could find, and even did the wishbone with me!

I won!  I wouldn’t have mattered though, I definitely have everything I could wish for.

I ordered the ponzu salmon bok choy, forbidden rice, pickled lime.

I was pretty stuffed at this point so I only ate about 1/3 of mine.  I asked for my fish well done and I thought it was cooked perfectly.  The lime flavor on the veggies was out of this world.

Honestly though, the best thing on the table wasn’t even the entrees.  It was this random bowl of roasted squash.

Holy frick!!!!!  This is literally the best thing I’ve ever eaten.  When I took my first bite I made Adam stop talking for a minute so I could just sit there.

We were pretty stuffed at this point but we knew we had to try dessert.  Adam got the chocolate ‘bomb.’

I know this sounds crazy from a food lover, but I really don’t like chocolate cake!  I took a small nibble, and I could tell it was good, but it just wasn’t my thing.  He loved it though.  It had Grand Marnier and candied orange peel on top.  The homemade lavender chocolate ice cream was ridiculous.

I went with my favorite, trio of creme brule vanilla bean, cinnamon, pumpkin.

Gah!  Indescribable.  I don’t know how I managed to let Adam split this with me.  I was most excited for the cinnamon, but pumpkin ended up being out of this world.  This was another moment when I just had to sit in silence.

I honestly can’t describe how much I enjoyed this meal.  I must have thanked Adam 20times during dinner for putting up with my out of control joy!  I was in love with everything in my mouth.  I felt so thankful.

Now that we are home I need to finish packing quickly and get to bed.  The plan is to leave before 7am tomorrow and I do not want to be a sleepy driver.  I will hopefully be doing regular posts this weekend but depending on the internet situation there may just be a big recap.  Whatever may happen, I hope all my readers and their families have a fabulous Thanksgiving.

What is your favorite restaurant?  I loved everything about Juniper – the decorations, the flavors, and the ideals.  The only other place I feel so strongly about is Serendipity in New York City.

The Blind Side

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It was a grand, grand Sunday!  No schoolwork ever made it into the picture, but that would have just mucked up the fun anyways 🙂

At 4:20 we finally made it in to see “The Blind Side.”  Love, love, love.  It was a true story about a Southern white family that took in a struggling, homeless black boy.  There were lots of y’alls, football, laughs, and touching moments.  Sandra Bulluck is one of my favorite actors, particularly for how well she does in roles like this.  I highly recommend seeing this movie.

I had a lick of Adam’s Maple Bacon Lollipop (brought back from Foodbuzz),

and we ate some of these Milkata candies.

When we got home at 7 I was so hungry!  I ate a delicious spoonful of Justin’s Maple Almond Butter.

Then we made the quickest-tastiest dinner of all time.

4 ingredients, 3 minutes of prep, 20minutes in the stove, 1 very very happy housewife!  I linked to the recipe here.

I was so so pleased with this idea.  Thanks for the pesto, Foodbuzz!  The crunchy bits of pasta were my favorite.

After dinner we walked over to Walgreens to pick up a few things.  And you know I made a big bowl of ‘corn when I got home!

I’m going to snuggle up with Adam and do some munching and tv watching, have a good night!

What 5 ingredient or less recipes have you had success with lately?

Foodgasms

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Good afternoon!  Today has been nice and productive; I mixed together a schedule of work and fun and this online stopwatch has been crucial. 

Amid the work has been the cleaning of the kitchen, the completion of the laundry, and a major chunk of Chemistry reading.

During some of the fun (NCIS watching) I shared a cup of tea and honey with the bears.

Did you know that Ulrick moved all the way from Brooklyn with us?  Unfortunately the tea didn’t really rock my socks.

I guess I only like Yogi if we are still talking about bears!

A bit later I had a strange snack that was exactly what I was craving (yes, in my dirty tea mug) –

Sliced bell pepper and 1/2C stuffing bread crumbs with 1T prepared pesto (from the Foodbuzz Festival!).  It sounds strange but it was a craving-fulfilling, 100ish calorie snack that held me over until lunch.

And what a lunch it was.  OhMyGosh.  It’s funny because Jenna and Brandi both talked about how much they enjoy food – like really really enjoy it, more than just ‘oh this is good,’ like foodgasms – in posts today and now I’m going to do the same.  Sometimes I get so excited about what I’m eating that I flap my arms like a deranged bird.  Today’s lunch was super simple and yet it elicited tons of flapping.

Today felt life-changing.  Today was the day I tried Sunshine Garden Herb Burgers.

Holy frick.  I didn’t think it was possible to get so excited about a veggie patty but I’ve managed.  This might be my new favorite food.  It’s not, because I love roasted brussels sprouts and broad rice noodles too much to demote them, but it’s close.

I microwaved one patty and ate it on white toast with Jack Daniels mustard.

One of the best sandwiches ever.  Chewy and hefty and the mix of flavors was to die for.  I love love loved the vinegary kick from the mustard and burger.  I almost got up and made myself a second sandwich.

And then I remembered dessert.

This is the best idea I’ve ever had.

Ricemellow, the filling scooped out of a slice of ‘Smores Pie, and a few chocolate chips.  Melted in the microwave for 20seconds.  It was like ‘smores x1million.

I love my readers.  I really do.  So I’m going to take this opportunity to remind you to make some good decisions.  #1 – Make ‘Smores Pie.  The recipe is here.  It’s from my grandma, it’s easy, and I’ve literally never met someone who didn’t like it.  #2 – buy this:

It’s vegan, it tastes like marshmallow fluff, and it is socks rocking.  I’ll be honest, even if it wasn’t wonderful I’d like it just because I’m in love with the packaging.  Seriously though, go buy it and report back to me.

That is all.  I got myself so excited I just may need to go lie down.  I will get up in time for class at 6:30 though, and I’ll see you for a dinner post this evening.

Is there a food YOU would like to strongly recommend today?

Loco

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Thank you (once again) for the encouraging comments on the last post.  Today has been good.

I spent an hour in the library this morning attempting to figure out my class schedule for next semester, but ultimately the computer glitches made it impossible.  My registration window is tomorrow morning, so I’m going to make sure I know exactly what the plan is before I go to bed tonight.  I ate a Cashew Almond Prana Bar while I worked.

I caught up on Chemistry reading until 12, and then I met up with my friend Katie for a trip to Starbucks.  I let my sweet tooth talk me into the cheapest option –

🙂 mint brownie, $1.95.  On the side I had some cheap healthy ice water.

Challenge Balance – $63.10.  I had a great time catching up with Katie and getting in some serious blog gossip.  Katie recently became a full-fledged RD so she’s kind of a rock star to me!  During our chatting a barista offered us a sample of the newest drink – Creme Brule Latte.

I was expecting to love it, but neither of us were that impressed.  It was too sweet, without acting tasting like Creme Brule.

By the way, those of who met me at the Foodbuzz Festival and thought I was underdressed, check out my ‘it’s 41* in Buffalo’ duds.

Katie said my sandals in November made me a bad-ass, oh yeah!

I headed home around 2:30 and I ate some peanut butter.  And a teeny apple.

PB Loco rocks my socks.  And if you skim to the bottom of this post, I tell you some ways they can rock your socks.

Adam and I have to run some errands and then the rest of the day will be all about business.  I have more Chemistry work I’d like to do and it’s possible my clothing just will get up and walk away as my laundry is so embarrassed about living in the living room for the last weekend!  I’ll see you with dinner.

Ways to get your fabulous pb fix on –

1.  If you sign up for “free stuff” at pbloco.com you will receive coupons to use at the online store.

2. Spend $30 or more at Pbloco.com and receive a FREE jar of P.B.Loco Dreamy Creamy Peanut Butter.  To redeem this coupon, place $30 or more of merchandise in your shopping cart at Pbloco.com.  Enter coupon code BLOG1209 when you checkout.  A free jar will be added to your order.  Offer expires December 25, 2009.

This Needs to Be a No Crap Zone

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I’m a little drunk and have a scary amount of work to do tomorrow so I’ll keep this speedy.

I might not have gotten much work done this afternoon but I did have a very calming snack.

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A Tazo tea sample pinched from my hotel room and Frog Hollow Farms cookies.

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And I baked a pie!

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We had an extra Wholy Wholesome WW Pie crust and Adam is a crazy person who has been requesting ‘smores pie minus the actual ‘smores crust.  I followed my grandmother’s recipe, but subbed chocolate chips for bars since that’s what we had in the cupboard.  You better believe I did some nibbling while I cooked.

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Finally, it was time for showers and gussying.  I straightened my hair for the first time in my entire life and I think I like it.

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The semi-formal was at the Samuel’s Grand Manor, which ended up being a very nice spot.  Dinner was actually a sit down meal and the company was great.  Adam is so lucky to be in school with such a great group of people. 

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We hit up the open bar when we arrived; whiskey sour.  [I started drinking and the lights went down so my pictures were pretty much doomed at this point]

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And I had a small appetizer plate.

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Before the bar closed for dinner I had a bourbon and ginger ale.

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Yummy salad.

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Bread and butter.

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Vegetarian entrée.

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Since I don’t eat steak the waitstaff hooked me up with this veggie pasta plate.  I ate all the veggies but pretty much ignored the pasta.

There was ice-cream for dessert but it didn’t look exciting so I gave mine to Adam.  I did however, break into the centerpiece.

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We totally took that candy cane home with us too!

After dinner Daniele delivered the bourbon and ginger that put me over the edge.

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We hung out for a bit, but my foot hurts from my doctor’s appointment and without dancing we ended up leaving before 10:30.  We were actually almost to our house before I had the world’s most intense craving for chicken fingers.  It’s possible we drunkenly made our way to Denny’s (ew!) and I decided that this wouldn’t count towards the Challenge because I didn’t get enough dinner at our pre-planned event.

The craving –

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I ate three and then decided I should probably be done.  P.S. I am totally sick.  Every time we’ve eaten crap this year it’s been confirmed for me that I just can’t.  I didn’t overeat at all (in fact my dinner all total was probably on the small side) but I feel like I’m going to explode.  My body can not tolerate fried food.

I also got embarrassingly excited about this –

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Peppermint hot cocoa?  Yes please!  Honestly, it was worth Denny’s food to be able to sit with my husband.  We talked about my goals and possible plans for next year.  He is so busy and it’s hard to focus at home, it was nice to just sit and talk.

Now I’m going to brush my teeth (and possibly puke) and collapse into bed.  Please, God, please let me wake up and get some work done tomorrow!!!

TGI-Cuddle Time

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After my last post, I spent the day making all the calls from my to-do list.  Guys, what the heck am I going to do next year?!

I did some work online and had an apple based snack in the late afternoon.  Yogi tea,

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and a Yoplait Light Apple Turnover.

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I love the chunks of apple in that yogurt, so good!

For dinner I threw together a quick but stunning combination.

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I steamed the brocoli in the microwave and then put it on the stove over medium high heat with a little evoo, tamari, salt, pepper, and garlic.  Meanwhile, I cooked the Garlic and Scallion Annie Chun’s Noodle Bowl according to the package directions.  Finally I combined both on the stove, heating for another 5minutes.  Once the everything was nice and crunchy I broke in 2 eggs and scrambled.  Delish.

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Mine looks so dense because I squeezed it onto a small plate.

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The sauce was tasty, the brocolli is always a favorite, the noodles were crispy, and Bear was a fan.

For dessert (#1!) I had a mini So Delicious.

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After dinner we went to the mall to buy a (very late) birthday gift for my mother-in-law.  We shopped quickly but then spent about an hour walking around.  Next up on the young hot couple schedule was a weekly grocery trip.

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Challenge Balence – $58.16

That bill included a cookie to watch while we snuggle on the couch and watch the new Bones tonight.

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Be aware, there will definitly be popcorn and my last Zevia [:(] in this evening as well.

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Have a great night folks!

No Motivation

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My goal tonight is bed before 9, so this will be quick.  I don’t have much to say anyways.  I am so disgusted with myself that I haven’t been taking care of business.  I used to be someone who thrived on pressure, but now I feel like I completely shut down if I have more than one thing to do.  Plus, why the frick am I so tired?!?  Is it jet-lag?  An oncoming cold?  What??

I have some goal-setting to do in the morning, so I’ll do a quick food recap for now.  I tried a sample from Annie Chun’s for lunch.

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I bulked it up with some shredded carrots.

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And had a Zevia (x2),

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and finished with chocolate chips.

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And later in the afternoon Adam and I took a note from last night’s dinner and ate a humungous bowl of popcorn.

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Blegh.

I need advice What do you do to get motivated?