Hello, 2013

by Emily

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great first day. I started my year the best way possible – a long morning in bed with my husband and dog and an afternoon spent cleaning every trace of 2012 away from the apartment. He vacuumed and put away Christmas decorations and I organized and put away the Christmas presents. I also did some electronics cleaning; my cell phone, bookmarks, and google reader are sparkling. I even cleaned up my desktop.

Tomorrow I just have to organize my school stuff from last semester. I’ve got to start getting ready for the next (last!) semester; I go back to school in 20 days!

We started our day with smoothies for a late breakfast.

For two: 1.5 cups Silk Soy, 1.5 frozen bananas, 1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut, and 1 Tbsp coconut oil went into the blender.

It was yummy! I got the coconut oil idea from Jenna Marbles and I think it was a good addition.

Lunch came in snack plate form. Roasted green beans.

And a sweet plate.

Sliced honeycrisp,

smoked almonds,

and the last cherry cheesecake brownie.

The mouthfuls with almond and brownie were great. I am not going to post the brownie recipe because it is cobbled together from a few sources but I am working on something similar that should be amazing.

I also had a small coffee – with lots of skim milk and vanilla sugar – when we went to Wegmans in the afternoon.

We may have made a grocery trip, but dinner was still pieced together from random things left in the fridge. Thankfully, it ended up being delicious.

Cornmeal crusted tofu.

I marinated pieces of 3/4 of a block of extra-firm tofu in Stubbs BBQ sauce all afternoon and then tossed the pieces in cornmeal (aka raw polenta) and corn starch and sautéed them in a bit of canola oil. We loved them, the crust was perfection! I dipped mine in honey.

Roasted asparagus.

With cooking spray, salt, and a bit of lemon.

Lucky quinoa salad.

I cooked 1/2 cup of quinoa, tossed it with 1 cup of canned black-eyed peas {for New Year’s luck!}, the leftover bbq sauce from the tofu, and some chopped green pepper. It was like a quick and dirty hoppin’ john.

For dessert we opened up the chocolate cream biscuit cookies we bought at Vineeta.

One serving each and I’m excited to eat the last three tomorrow. They were quite good.

How’d you spend the first day of 2013?

26Dec2012

Our New Christmas Traditions

by Emily

Happy holidays, from our family to yours!

We spent the last two days making memories and building our own traditions. We missed our family like crazy, but other than it was one of our best Christmas days ever. It helped that most of our new family traditions involved eating lots of tasty food!

One event I hope not to turn into a tradition was December 23rd’s 3 am grocery trip. We had a slight misstep with the baking I did for my co-workers’ Christmas gifts. One of my pies burnt to a crisp and I had to go buy a replacement gift in the middle of the night. Also, we ate the salvageable half of the burnt pie… at 3 am.

I made my Hello Dolly Pies and they were delicious. I hope everyone liked them!

We exchanged gifts at our company holiday breakfast.

Our bosses took us out for a delicious meal at Mythos. I had never been there before but I’m still sure that what I ordered was the best thing on the menu. A burrito with turkey, eggs, potatoes and cheddar, smothered in hollandaise.

It came with berries and Greek yogurt on the side and everything was delicious. I ate half and brought the rest to Adam who loved it as well.

We ran a few errands when Adam picked me up from breakfast and we ended up going on an adventure. Vineeta International Market has been hiding under my nose on Grant for months!

We had a grand time wandering around and came home with lots of goodies.

Including the Thumbs Up cola we shared.

Then we trimmed the tree.

We couldn’t buy a big tree because the dog is a monster but we enjoyed this little magical grow tree I bought Adam for Hanukkah.

And then we had pie.

Gaaah; can this be a yearly tradition? That pie is so fricking good.

So was the eggnog seltzer I sipped on all day.

I had a salad for lunch.

Romaine with peanut sauce, buckwheat groats, chopped honeycrisp, and cheddar.

Plus the last of the sugar-plum candies.

We did pizza for dinner.

Why mess with our usual traditions?

Then we stayed up late watching “How I Met Your Mother.” We’ve decided that’s our new tv marathon of choice.

This morning (Christmas!!) we slept in late like a couple of old people. It was pretty great. The dog started his morning with sirloin and bacon wet food.

And I started mine with toffee.

Plus a glass of eggnog with nutmeg.

Then we got all fancy with breakfast.

Seriously fancy. Check out we bought at Wegman’s –

Lobster for Christmas breakfast? That can definitely become a tradition! We cooked turkey bacon and then used the skillet to sautéechopped lobster tail in butter. Then we scrambled in egg whites (leftover from the pies, plus one yolk) and baby spinach.

It was quite good. And lunch was a winner as well.

We used this Christmas tree pasta that my co-worker gave me.

I sautéed sliced mushroom, chopped red peppers, and baby spinach in butter and evoo. Then I tossed in pasta, a big dollop of Nayo, and a huge handful of shredded cheese.

Ridiculous good.

And the bowl Cannoli ice cream I had next was even better.

Ben and Jerry just keep getting it right.

For dinner we went over to our friends’ house for a party. We brought over a good dip, and terrible chips for everyone to try.

The White Chocolate Peppermint Pringle’s looked so nasty that there was no way Adam and I could pass up the experience of trying them for a measly $2. Pro tip – freaking terrible, aka totally worth the money to try.

My dinner plate.

Tons of salad with mashed potato and mac and cheese. With homemade strawberry shortcake for dessert.

I ate about half. Plus a candy cane.

That cane was actually my hook in a candy cane fishing game we played. We went through a series of challenges from Minute to Win It. Hilarious.

Adam and I won! Woot!

We took a long walk to get home and stopped for sushi on the way back.

I had two pieces of inarai (tofu skin) but some amazing fried thing. It was the perfect way to end a great holiday.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

P.S. Here’s a video of Webster opening his Christmas present. You’re welcome.

11Dec2012

Exam Eating

by Emily

Sunday’s 3pm Spot coffee was a terrible mistake. I got less than three hours of sleep that night! It made Monday morning’s 6 am Starbucks coffee an absolute necessity.

That’s a tall, non-fat, eggnog latte and it was fabulous! And I ate a Green Dragon apple (also fabulous) while I read through my notes.

My morning snack was from my #simplesurvivalkit.

A serving of Food Should Taste Good Chocolate Tortilla Chips to scoop up green salsa.

I had time to go home between my exam (went well-ish!) and work so I made myself a delicious plate of eggs for lunch.

At that point I still thought I was making a healthy dinner so I kept my eggs simple with no veggies. Just 5 chopped slices of turkey – just regular old honey roasted like for sandwiches – cooked in 1 Tbsp Earth Balance with 2 eggs and Cabot’s Sharp Cheddar Light Cheese scrambled in.

They were amazing; I’m having a total love affair with eggs recently.

I brought a Hint Blackberry Fizz with me for my 8.5 hour shift.

The Fizz was good, but it didn’t pack the caffeine-punch that I desperately needed.

At one point during my shift I was so tired that I was in an actual daze! On three different occasions I wanted to call Adam to bring me something and I had to really crank up my brain to work through why that didn’t make sense. <– he was out-of-town

I ended up using the work Keurig to make an extra-strength coffee with cream and sugar.

I stopped at the Co-op for food the minute I got off of work.

I shoved that Orzo Greek Salad into my face while walking around 7-11. Classy.

I had to run another errand on the way home from work and I called my parents to tell them I was home safely and suddenly it was 11 pm. I was exhausted and cranky and so hungry I felt like I was going to pull my hair out if I didn’t get food into my mouth immediately.

I ended up eating a bunch of crap and staying up too late but not studying. Of course. Homemade nachos that I ate so quickly I think even Webster was a little disgusted.

That’s 2-ish servings of Nacho Cheese Tortilla PopChips microwaved with cheese.

I bought the chips with a sweet free coupon that PopChips sent me and sadly I don’t think I like the tortilla version as much as the originals. Something about the texture feels off to me. To be fair, PopChips are amazing so the standard was set high.

Plus Tandoor Chef Vegetable Pad Thai,

and a bowl of melted pb with cocoa powder.

I wish I could tell you that today has been better on the fruit and veggies front but sadly that’s not true. This is definitely a week of exam eating.

Breakfast of champions.

Plus this Boston Cream Pie Seltzer that I thought would be amazing but ended up getting passed to a friend after one sip because it made me gag.

I have adored Polar this year though and one bad flavor won’t turn me off. I am very excited about the Pear Vanilla I bought with it. And I am crossing my fingers and toes that the Eggnog flavor with be out again in time for Christmas.

Starting at 7:40 I had two very frustrating meetings on campus. I don’t know if I get to graduate or not (getting a 2nd degree vs. just taking the classes needed to sit for the RD exam), I don’t really understand what I need to have done for next semester, and I have lots more to do before Thursday.

I took a walk home to clear my head and got Subway for lunch. A 6-inch tuna sub with lots of red onions.

Do you have a Subway rewards card yet? Because my sandwich was free!

And I’ve got a healthy dinner waiting for me in the fridge…

Or just “a dinner.” I’m blogging my winner of a dinner in advance because I have to go back to school for another meeting at 2:00 and then tomorrow morning I have two final exams that are going to crush me.

Plus this afternoon I am taking a study break to do something crazy. There is a hint in this post. Can you guess???

10Dec2012

Happy Hanukkah!

by Emily

I know I’m a day late on the holiday wishes but 2nd-out-of-8 is not so bad.

I’d love to tell you that I’ve been in a flurry of studying, but in fact I worked almost 22 hours between Friday and Saturday. I am exhausted, cranky, and not as prepared for tomorrow’s exam as I’d like. But it is what it is and I’m just glad I have a job.

Some Friday/Saturday Highlights

I made another round of eggs with seitan.

And had a mug cookie both days.

Also pizza both days…

I had my first Starbucks red cup.

A gingerbread latte (I didn’t love it!) while forcing myself to study with a friend after work.

What I Was Up To Today (Sunday)

Other than oversleeping and wasting some time in the morning, today was nice and productive. Apparently my body just doesn’t want to study before noon!

I was excited to try this Oro Blanco for breakfast.

Whenever I spot something I haven’t heard of before at the grocery store I just have to buy it. Adam and I used to love Ugli fruit when we lived in the city and I was hoping this would be similar.

The Oro Blanco had a very thick layer of skin and pith like the Ugli fruit, but the flavor was not my favorite.

It was bitter in a way that made my stomach hurt and I ended up throwing it out after three segments.

Instead I split a Mike’s bagel sandwich with a friend.

The Mike’s sandwich is a bagel topped with cream cheese, provolone, and a fried egg. It is amazing and ridiculous.

We spent almost six hours at The Spot so the sandwich was only the first of three orders. I also had an iced coffee with skim milk.

And shared a slice of cheesecake (with a pretzel crust and chocolate ganache!) with a friend.

I just have to say – thank goodness for my great groups of friends or I would not have accomplished a damn thing today! We went through the notes as a group and it was so helpful. Not that I’m feeling all that great about a comprehensive exam in one of the hardest classes I’ve ever taken!

I snacked on baby carrots with blue cheese dressing when I got home.

Plus a Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale.

I have 3 pumpkin beers left over from October and I need to drink them before their out-of-season-ness drives me crazy.

I went to my freezer to get a little festive for 2nd night of Hanukkah dinner.

3 cheese blintzes from Manischewitz.

Frozen carrot slices and brocoli baked in 1 Tbsp Smart Balance, 1 Tbsp maple syrup, and salt.

Both of the dinner components were very tasty. I bought a bunch of frozen vegetables on my last grocery trip and I’m actually looking forward to using them. And I have half a box of blintzes left that for which I need to purchase sour cream.

Dessert was very unnecessary, but also fun.

Biscoff Buddies! I have a special version of “puppy chow” in the works and since I’ve never actually made puppy chow before, I wanted to do a trial run with a single serving batch.

For this version I used: 3/4 cup honey squares, 1 Tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips, 2 Tbsp Biscoff spread, and 1 Tbsp powdered sugar.

Who else thinks I shouldn’t be blogging at midnight when I have a giant exam at 7:40 am? Whoops!

4Dec2012

Sunny Sunday Monday

by Emily

We had a high of 57* today, wheeeeeee! And tomorrow promises to be in the 50’s as well. I’m hoping to take the dog on a glorious long walk.

Today’s exam was thing 1-of-6 on the “big things left in the semester” list. So that’s where I’ve been.

Yesterday I was actually busy being sick. I woke up with a cough and a constantly running nose and even my boss said I looked terrible. I didn’t have it in me to make or eat food before my shift at noon. When I got home at 5, I had some spicy avocado inari.

So flipping good; I love how the tofu skin is a little bit sweet.

I also ate the best dipping plate I’ve had all year.

A sliced green dragon apple.

This apple variety – a hybrid cross between a Japanese Orin and a Golden Delicious was new to me and I loved it. Perfectly sweet! I have another one in the fridge and I can’t wait to eat it.

2 Tbsp crunchy peanut butter melted with 1 Tbsp Biscoff for dipping. Plus a spoonful straight from the jar.

The pb-Biscoff combo cannot be beat!

This plate was supposed to be dinner.

The roasted green beans were divine per usual,

but I was not a fan of the Tofurky Pepperoni Pizza. The “meat” was way too soft and the “cheese” did not melt.

I could only eat two bites of pizza before calling uncle. It is worth noting that Adam clearly thought it was fine because he ate the rest of the pizza!

I ended up supplementing my green beans with Chinese take-out.

Crab rangoon was the perfect one-handed dish for study-eating.

Soon after dinner, I realized that the only way I could study was if I had a constant stream of food going.

I also ate a bowl of baby carrots and these sugar-plum candies from Wegman’s bulk bins.

The sugar plums were quite good, I recommend buying some if you spot them at your store. There really was plum flavor, not just one note of sweetness.

Studying went about as well as could be expected when trying to cram with a sudden cold. But it was what it was.

P.S. Adam decorated the house for the holidays while I was at work because he is the best.

And then he decorated the dog.

Too awesome.

I got myself up at 6 this morning and {hallelujah!} discovered that I wasn’t actually sick any more. I don’t know where my cold went but I hope it stays there! {knock on wood}

I drank a mug of hot chocolate while I did some clear-headed studying.

And then I was off to take my exam. It didn’t go as well as I could have liked (do they ever?!) but it certainly could have gone worse. Phew!

After my classes I did something amazing…

I worked out! 60 minutes of hot yoga was heavenly. And the session was nowhere near as hard as I’d worried it would be after more than a month of no exercise. <– yikes!

I have a 2-month unlimited pass that expires soon so I had to go to yoga today, looming finals or not. I probably will only go once or twice more in the next two weeks though because I really do have to study. But as soon as break begins I am looking forward to making the most of my pass!

A Stinger honey waffle was consumed on the walk to yoga.

And a juicy apple was consumed on the walk to work.

My six+ hour shift went well, though I did have to deal with a bleeding lip since my body waited until the warmest day of the winter to rebel against the cold. I got a Starbucks Strawberry Lemonade Refresher while I was out buying emergency Chap Stick.

Finally home, I did eggs for a quick dinner.

– – Cooked 8 oz package chopped seitan in 1 Tbsp Earth Balance until crispy, set half aside for tomorrow. Add ~ 1 cup frozen spinach, chopped cilantro, 1 tsp evoo, 1/2 tsp sugar, salt, and a few dashes of Sriracha. Scramble in 2 large eggs and 1 egg white plus 2.5 oz Cabot’s 50% Reduced Sharp Cheddar. – –

I couldn’t get a single good picture, but this meal was out of control good! I adore eggs.

With a microwave chocolate chip cookie for dessert.

It was much tastier than it looks.

I didn’t get to study today (I needed a day to recover from my exam anyway) but I did put away a load of laundry, do the dishes, and organize my study materials. Now I’m off to read a book in bed!

Did your area get hit with unseasonably (fabulously) warm weather this week?

20Nov2012

{Part Of} Tuesday {In Advance}

by Emily

Hi there! A computer issue is going to keep me from blogging Tuesday night and all day Wednesday so I wanted to get a quickie post up today. This content is coming to you from the past (ooooooooohh!) so it’s possible that I’ll miss some unplanned bites. I don’t plan on recapping, I just wanted to get up an outline of sorts.

Breakfast: A mint chocolate strawberry shake; don’t question the combo, it just works. 1 heaping cup of frozen strawberries blended with 1.5 cups So Delicious Chocolate Mint Coconut Milk.

Lunch: We have clinic in the morning and an internship meeting in the afternoon and I’m hoping for time to grab veggie sushi at Wegman’s in between.

Dinner: A sandwich thin with cilantro mayo and tofu roasted with maple and soy. Half of the seaweed flavored potato chips from China Town in Philly. Half of the Little Duck Organics Apple and Banana Tiny Fruits from my #simplesurvivalkit package.

You might want to check back Wednesday morning… it’s possible I’ve prescheduled a giveaway post as well.

20Nov2012

It’s December, Apparently

by Emily

Don’t worry, it’s not time to change your calendars; it’s only December in Emily Land. You see, the other the day at the store I just couldn’t wait.

And today I did something really crazy.

I know that looks more mushy than crazy, but those overnight oats are made with So Delicious Coconut Milk Nog! Nog in November? Who am I?!

My breakfast was so good it was worth breaking holiday timelines. 1/3 cup raw oats, 2/3 cup vegan nog, and 1 Tbsp chia seeds sat overnight. This morning I topped it off with a sliced banana, nutmeg, and a little more nog. Dee-lish-us!

Lunch was more on season with a Thanksgiving classic.

I made cranberry sauce from scratch yesterday! I used this recipe and it came out great. Today I ate a bowl with sweet and salty peanuts.

Plus the rest of my peanut butter rice krispie treat from the other day. {where the heck did this picture go?!} Maybe a little too much sugar for lunch? I was buzzing at work.

Speaking of work, I came home from my shift with a present for Adam and myself.

I’ve been eyeing Ghost Blitz for weeks and there was only one box left today so I bought it! We had such a good time playing this evening.

Adam and I shared a box of Thai spring rolls (with homemade spicy peanut sauce) while we played.

Round two was homemade veggie burgers. I topped mine with honey mustard.

And the tie-breaker (Adam won!) was 2 servings of Sweet Potato Chips from Food Should Taste Good.

I should have been in bed 3 hours ago. Boo!

12Nov2012

Farmicia in Philadelphia

by Emily

Our trip has been fantabulous thus far! We had a wonderful time catching up with family and then we got to do some Philadelphia exploring. My favorite things to do in a city are walk-walk-walk, people-watch, and eat and that is what we spent yesterday doing.

We hung out with my in-laws until around noon and then headed into the city. Sidenote – to family members who have traveled with me before, you would not believe how relaxed I’ve been about our itinerary; I’ve gotten much better at playing things by ear.

I ate an apple and an Air Head in the morning.

I was super carsick on the drive in, but managed to rally for our first stop – Whole Foods hot bar for lunch.

I so miss living in a city with a WF! We each bought a few small things but overall managed to contain ourselves. From the hot bar I got kale, spinach, and two varieties of vegan “chicken.”

Everything was delicious but my stomach was still feeling off so I only managed about half of my food. The husband, on the other hand, got crab and artichoke rice and loaded baked potato soup and practically licked his plates clean!

We spent some time just walking around and have both decided we would love to live in Philly, it’s too bad it’s not on our list of possibilities for residency.

One neighborhood was covered in gorgeous mosaics.

<– can you spot Adam in the last picture??

Our next stop was Little Baby’s for ice cream.

We tasted the pizza flavor (not vegan) which was astonishingly realistic and I ended up going with a scoop of the vegan sweet potato with burnt marshmallow.

This was the best texture I’ve ever found in a vegan ice cream! The flavor was a little too spot on though, I don’t really want to lick spoonfuls of sweet potato for dessert, so I passed the 2nd half to Adam. He got the caramel cardamom (not vegan) and was in heaven. If I ever get to go back (I hope so!) I’m getting the coffee toffee (with Blue Bottle coffee) and the vegan speculoos.

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around China Town. We bought several fun things at markets. And you know I got bubble tea.

Passion fruit black tea with boba. I will most definitely be getting another today.

We didn’t run up the Rocky stairs or go to the Edgar Allen Poe house, but we did manage to walk past the Liberty Bell on our way to dinner.

I like to take in the culinary sights.

Dinner was a meal I’ve waited one and a half years for…

Farmicia! I’ve wanted to go back ever since my first trip to Philly.

I agonized over the drink menu (St. Germain? The drink with lavender essence? The drink with hibiscus essence?!) and ended up going with the Elation.

Prosecco with rose essence and fresh berries. It was perfect. Though I did steal the savory components from Adam’s martini.

Rosemary and olive oil bread.

Adam ate his pumpernickel with herbed butter and I was a little jealous.

For my entrée, I went with the same meal was I did on my first visit. Why mess with what works?

Corn Risotto Croquettes ratatouille, sautéed spinach, basil-parsley salsa verde.

Yuuuuuuuuuum! I had to close my eyes and swoon after several bites. The veggies were just as good as I remembered and the croquettes were out of this world. So serendipitous that the dish I loved the first time was vegan. I decided over this meal that my favorite flavor is “butteriness.” Not butter, because there was none used in these buttery croquettes, but butteriness.

Adam gave the meal a 9/10 and said it was the best food he’d had in quite a while. I concur!

I ate strawberry lime mentos for dessert.

We didn’t see our hotel for the first time until almost 9pm, so we were glad that it worked out. The room was fancy in a strange way, like the honeymoon suite at a pay by the hour motel.

But the bed was comfy and Adam got a good night’s sleep.

Today he is taking an 8 hour practical exam that you don’t become a doctor without passing. I know he’ll do great, but lets still keep our fingers crossed. I set myself up at a table in the Reading Terminal Market and plan on spending the day reading. And eating!

What is the strangest flavor of ice cream you’ve ever eaten? Pizza definitely tops my list!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: tofu

Hello, 2013

Our New Christmas Traditions

Exam Eating

Happy Hanukkah!

Some Friday/Saturday Highlights

What I Was Up To Today (Sunday)

Sunny Sunday Monday

{Part Of} Tuesday {In Advance}

It’s December, Apparently

Farmicia in Philadelphia